LONDON – Libraries are an important part that determines a nation’s civilization. It is not surprising that developed nations also have many libraries that are complete, but also beautiful.
Here are the 10 most beautiful libraries in the world.
1. Bristol Central Library, England
According to List Verse, Bristol Central Library is a historic building on the south side of College Green, Bristol, England. It contains the main collections of Bristol’s public library.
Built in 1906, the building is interesting for its combination of influential and unique architectural styles. The front exterior was designed in a Tudor Revival and Modern Movement style to harmonize with the Abbey Gatehouse next door.
It was built on a slope, and the front of the building is only three stories high, but thanks to two basement levels built into the hill, the back of the building has five floors.
2. Trinity College Library, Ireland
As well as being incredibly beautiful, it is also the largest library in all of Ireland. It is the library of Trinity College and Dublin University, and serves as the country’s copyright library, to which copies of all new books and periodicals must be sent when they apply for copyright protection.
It is also the only Irish library to hold such rights in the UK. The library is the permanent home of the famous Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript created by Celtic monks around the year 800.
3. Austrian National Library, Austria
The library was completed in 1723 and features sculptures by Lorenzo Mattielli and Peter Strudel as well as frescoes by Daniel Gran. The library complex includes four museums, as well as several special collections and archives.
4. Wiblingen Abbey Library, Germany
Completed in 1744, the monastery library is located in the north wing of Wiblingen Abbey. The beautiful Rococo interior features winding ornamental galleries supported by numerous columns.
The many statues and frescoes on the ceiling represent the architect’s vision that the library be a place to preserve “treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
Right outside the library there is an inscription that reads “In quo omnes thesauri sapientiae et scientiae,” which means “In it are stored all the treasures of humanity and science.”
5. Biblioteca Joanina, Universitas Coimbra, Portugal
The Public Library of the University of Coimbra consists of two buildings: the New Building built in 1962, and the Joanina Library. Once called the “Home of the Bookstore,” Joanina Library is one of the five best libraries in the world.
Now called the Biblioteca Joanina, this Baroque library was built between 1717 and 1728, during the reign of King João V of Portugal. Inside the library, there are three large rooms separated by ornate arches.
The rooms, with their ornate ceilings, are rich in gold and exotic woods, and the walls are covered with two-story bookshelves. Today the Biblioteca Joanina is a Portuguese National Monument and one of the University’s main tourist attractions.
6. El Escorial Library, Spain
The library is located in the Royal Seat of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, the historic residence of the Spanish monarchs. The Escorial is a vast building complex in central Spain.
This building is the most important architectural monument of the Spanish Renaissance. Construction of El Escorial began in 1563 and ended in 1584. Phillip II was responsible for adding to the library and most of the books originally housed in it.
The vaulted ceiling is painted with beautiful frescoes, each representing one of the seven liberal arts: rhetoric, dialectics, music, grammar, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy.
7. Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Prancis
This place has come a long way since a new building was added to the collection in 1988. However, the old building on the Rue de Richelieu is still in use, and is also very beautiful.
The library holds around 5,000 Greek manuscripts, which are divided into three fonds: Ancien fonds grec, fonds Coislin, and Fonds du Supplément grec.
8. Perpustakaan Biara Admont, Austria
Built in 1776, the Admont Abbey Library is 70 meters long, 14 meters wide and 13 meters high, and is the largest monastery library in the world.
9. Strahov Monastery Library, Czech Republic
This amazing library is ranked 2nd in the list of the most beautiful libraries in the world. The library’s impressive collection contains more than 200,000 volumes, 3,000 of which are original manuscripts.
It consists of two beautiful halls connected by a passage. The Hall of Theology with its attractive stucco contains mostly literature of a theological nature and thousands of editions of the Bible.
10. St. Mary’s Monastery Library Gallen, Switzerland
St. Andrew’s Abbey Library Gallen is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful libraries in the world. This beautiful library is not only the oldest in Switzerland, but also one of the oldest and most important monastic libraries in the world.
The library holds nearly 160,000 volumes, most dating from the 8th century. The Rococo-style library is often considered one of the most perfect libraries in the world and has earned the Abbey recognition as a World Heritage Site.
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