Visit the 5 Largest Libraries in the World

Where do you like to spend your time? Cinema? Playground? Mall? Or… the library? If you are the type who likes to spend your time in the silence of the library and accompanied by books, don’t worry, there are lots of people like you!

For those of you who like reading books, you definitely want to keep reading! After finishing one book, change books again, so you don’t feel empty about the ending. Well, the library is the right place for you. Store more than hundreds to thousands of books, you will always be satisfied!

So, if you happen to be visiting other countries, and are “itching” to read, make sure you visit the 10 largest and most famous libraries in the world. From fiction to non-fiction, you are free to take your time (until the library closes, of course).

1. Library of Congress, Washington D.C., USA

Located in the government capital of the United States, the US Library of Congress (Library of Congress) is the US national library which holds the title of “Largest Library in the World” according to Guinness World Records. This library consists of three buildings named after the figures behind the founding of the Library of Congress, namely:

• John Adams (2nd US President)

Open since 1939, John Adams was the president who signed the law establishing the Library of Congress.

• Thomas Jefferson (3rd President of the US)

The oldest building of the Library of Congress open since the late 19th century and designated a “National Historical Landmark” (NHL) by the US government. Thomas Jefferson contributed greatly to the Library of Congress collection.

• James Madison (4th US President)

Opened in 1976 in memory of James Madison who came up with the idea of ​​building the Library of Congress, this building also includes the Mary Pickford Theater, a display location for the Library of Congress’ audio-visual (TV and film) collection.

Founded on April 24, 1800 and briefly moved to New York City (NYC) and Philadelphia, the Library of Congress has various materials in more than 450 languages ​​from all over the world on 1,349 km of shelves! In total, the Library of Congress has around 170 million materials, from historical books such as Johannes Gutenberg’s printed Bible, historical objects such as Stradivarius violins, to digitally archived Twitter tweets.

2. British Library, London, England

Also located in the British capital, the British Library is a national library sponsored by the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. According to Wikipedia, in terms of collections, the British Library already rivals the Library of Congress as the largest library in the world. Every year, the British Library adds three million collections which take up 9 kilometers of shelves!

Built in 1943, the British Library has a collection of 170 – 200 million materials, from books, song collections, videos, to images. Some of the historical objects are the Beowulf manuscript, the Gutenberg Bible, draft lyrics handwritten by The Beatles themselves, the Magna Charta which is a cornerstone of constitutional law, the Koran, and various objects from other Asian cultures.

3. Library and Archives Canada, Ontario, Canada

Founded in 2004, Library and Archives Canada is a Canadian federal agency responsible for preserving Canadian culture so that it can be accessed by the public as a national library and archive. Library and Archives Canada has more than 20 million books, 24 million photos and petabytes (1,000 terabytes) of digital content.

Even though it was founded only 16 years ago, Library and Archives Canada has a collection that is no less ancient! One of the antique collections is the book of Jewish history “Antiquitates Iudaicae” written by Flavius ​​Josephus in 1470, and the chair that was once occupied by Glenn Gould, one of the world’s most famous Canadian pianists in the 20th century.

4. New York Public Library, NYC, USA

Appearing in the film and game “Spider-Man” (PS4), the New York Public Library (NYPL) is the 2nd largest library in the US with approximately 53 million collections in 92 locations. Private in nature, the NYPL is funded by a combination of funds from the NYC government and the public.

Founded in 1895, the NYPL was dedicated to the NHL in 1965. The NYPL has 39 libraries in Manhattan, 25 in the Bronx, and 13 on Staten Island. However, NYPL has branches serving the Brooklyn and Queens areas. In addition, NYPL also has four research libraries which are also freely accessible to the general public.

5. Russian State Library, Moscow, Russia

As the name suggests, the Russian State Library is the national library and the largest in Russia. Before becoming the Russian State Library in 1992, this library which was founded in 1862 was previously called the V. I. Lenin State Library of the USSR since 1925, so it was nicknamed “Leninka”.

The Russian State Library has around 59.8 million materials, from books, research, journals, to music and maps. The library has 247 foreign language materials, or about 29 percent of the entire Russian State Library collection. Apart from that, there are around 200 ancient paintings stored in this library.