This page contains pictures from various libraries that I visited. Sometimes I shot the building, sometimes the interior and on other occasions, the only option was to shoot close-ups.
Let’s start the series with this picture of the reading room in the Public Library on 5th Avenue in New York.
The Library in Leuven, Belgium was completely destroyed during the first World War and again during the second World War. I t was rebuild with US funding. Its reading room is very popular during the exams with university students queuing up for a quiet spot.
In 2009 I was sent to a customer in Malmo, Sweden. During an evening walk I strolled past its library. It was already closed but fortunately the lights were still on.
Before there were public libraries, only rich people could afford access to a lot of books. This shot is taken in the library of the Château de Modave in Belgium. I like the reflection of the books
This book about famous people from the local region of Liège was on display in that same room.
Obviously the people that were best placed to create large private libraries were rich printers. Here is a shot from the ‘small library’ in the home of the Plantin-Moretus family in Antwerp, Belgium. A picture from their ‘large library’ can be found here.
Other photographs of libraries and bookshops
The web is filled with fine pictures of libraries all around the world.
Dezeen published a fascinating series of pictures of the Zhongshuge bookshop in Yangzhou, China. Books are displayed in a tunnel-like entrance with a mirror floor that adds to the eerie ambiance of the place.
The Strahov Monastery in Prague, Czech Republic, has a stunning library.
I like the old-versus-new dynamic, so let’s thrown in a more recent library, more specifically that of the city of Stuttgart in Germany.
Trinity College in Dublin was founded in 1592, making it Ireland’s oldest university. It also has the largest research library in Ireland.
The dark colors of that library are in stark contrast with the clean white lines of the library of Koblenz in Germany.
The Library of Congress in Ottawa, Canada is more colorful.
Back to new: the library of Aberdeen is visually as interesting from the outside as it is inside.
Another library with multiple levels allowing you to see different floors is the George Peabody Library at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA. Although it is still in use as a research library, this now also serves as an event venue where weddings take place.
The state library in Melbourne, Australia has a magnificent reading room, called the ‘La Trobe’.
For rare books the US Library of Congress is an excellent spot.
The John Work Garrett library in Baltimore
The travelling library
Libraries don’t have to be big – this one is in Leeds castle