14 of the most fabulous libraries in the world

Here are 14 particularly special libraries throughout Europe. Please note that they are in no particular order. I leave the best and worst up to you.

 

Trinity College Library, Ireland

 

 

This is the largest library in Ireland. It is the country’s copyright library, where newly published books and periodicals are sent for copyright protection. It is home to the famous Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript created by Celtic monks in around 800.

 

Bristol Central Library, England

 

Completed in 1906, this library has many architectural designs combined in it. The front exterior was designed in a Tudor Revival and Modern Movement style so it matches the Abbey Gatehouse next door. The rest of the building was built in a Classical period style. Oddly, the front of the building is three stories, but since it was built on a steep slope, the back of the building ends up being five stories. Don’t ask me how that works.

 

Codrington Library, England

 

The Codrington Library of Oxford University was completed in 1751, but was renovated in the 1990’s to provide better protection for the books and the install electronic work station.

 

Bibliothéque Nationale de France, France

 

The National Library of France is regularly adding building to hold all the collections. The latest building was added in 1988. Even with all the expanding, the original and exquisite buildings from 1868 are still in use. For almost thirty years, the library was the largest book repository in the world, although that record has since been taken from it.

 

The Library of El Escorial, Spain

 

Located in the Royal Seat of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, this library was the historical residence Phillip II. He was the leading force behind adding the library and the books in it. The vaulted ceilings are painted with extravagant frescoes representing the seven liberal arts: rhetoric, dialectic, music, grammar, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. The library, now a World Heritage Site, holds more than 40,000 ancient volumes.

 

Biblioteca Geral, University of Coimbra, Portugal

 

This library consists of two buildings: the New Building built in 1962 and the Joanina Library built in 1725. The older library is beautifully decorated with Baroque paintings and holds volumes dating from before 1800.

 

Handelingenkamer, Netherlands

 

The library of the Dutch Parliaments houses every parliamentary hearing and discussion on record. The library is known not only for the incredible content, but because the library is full of glass windows that lets in light, elimination the need for candles and gas lamps in the library when it was built.

 

Abbey Library of St. Gallen, Switzerland

 

The Abbey Library of St. Gallen holds the title of being the oldest library in Switzerland and the oldest and most important monastery library in the world, holding over 160,000 volumes, many of which date back as early as the 8th C. The Rococo-style library is considered to be so perfect that it has been declared a World Heritage Site.

 

Admont Abbey Library, Austria

 

Although the Abbey of St. Gallen is the most important and valuable, the Admont Abbey Library built in 1776 is the largest monastery library in the world. The ceiling is painted with frescoes depicting the stages of human knowledge up until the Divine Revelations. The entire library design reflected the style and ideas of the Enlightenment Age.

 

Melk Monastery Library, Austria

 

This Baroque style abbey and library based on the designs of Jakob Prandtauer were finished in 1736 and houses a world-famous collection of music manuscripts.

 

Austrian National Library, Austria

 

This one is Austria’s largest library and is located in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna. The library, completed in 1723, holds over 7.4 million items in its walls and features sculptures by Lorenzo Mattielli and Peter Strudel and frescoes by Daniel Gran.

 

Wiblingen Monastery Library, Germany

 

The Wiblingen Library in Germany was built in 1744 as an imitation of the Austrian National Library, but is so finely crafted that it stands as an equal if not superior to the original. Just outside the library there is an inscription reading “In quo omnes thesauri sapientiae et scientiae,” which translates to “In which are stored all treasures of knowledge and science.”

 

Strahov Monastery Library, Czech Republic

 

The Strahov Monastery Library has a very unique history. The building was first built over 860 years ago, but due to numerous fires, plunders, and war, the current building was not erected until 1679. During the Nazism and communist rule, the collections were dispersed around the world or destroyed, but the library has since been able to recover most of its original titles lost during the past century. It is quite popular among adventure seekers since there are two secret passageways hidden in bookshelves and opened by fake books.

 

Clementinum National Library, Czech Republic

 

This library was founded due to an 11th C. chapel dedicated to Saint Clement, although the actual buildings now seen were not built until much later, when a Jesuit college was built on the location in 1622. The National Library was completed in 1781 and has served as a copyright library since 1782.

The collection now includes historical examples of Czech literature, special materials relating to Tycho Brahe, and a unique collection of Mozart’s personal effects. In 2005, UNESCO awarded the library their Memory of the World prize.

 

 

(via Mental Floss)