Librophiliac Love Letter: Revised Edition

Editors Note: This article was originally published by myself (Dylan) on Curious Expeditions. Due to some long overdue and much needed maintainence on Curious Expeditions the original post is no longer available. I decided to repost it here, updated with yet even more amazing libraries. I don’t know why, but I seriously can’t get enough. Hope you enjoy!

Strahov Theological Hall - Original Baroque Cabinet
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Everyone has some kind of place that makes them feel transported to a magical realm. For some people it’s castles with their noble history and crumbling towers. For others it’s abandoned factories, ivy choked, a sense of foreboding around every corner. For us here at the Atlas, there has always been something about libraries. Row after row, shelf after shelf, there is nothing more magical than a beautiful old library.

On a trip to Prague, two members of the Atlas team had a chance to visit a particularly beautiful library. Tucked away on the top of a hill is the Strahov Monestary, the second oldest monastery in Prague. Inside, divided into two major halls, is a breathtaking library. The amazing Theological Hall contains 18,000 religious texts, and the grand Philosophical Hall has over 42,000 ancient philosophical texts. Both are gorgeous.

Strahov also contains a beautiful cabinet of curiosities, including bits of a Dodo bird, a large 18th century electrostatic device, numerous wonderfully old ocean specimens, and - for unclear reasons - glass cases full of waxen fruit.  Shocked into a library induced euphoria, we have attempted to gather together the world’s most beautiful libraries, starting with our own pictures of Strahov. 

We hope you enjoy this trip through the world’s libraries as much as we do.

Strahov Theological Hall; Statue of John the Evangelist Holding a Book
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Strahov Philosophical Hall
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Abbey Library St. Gallen, Switzerland
Image is by Candida Hoffer


Angelica Library, Rome, Italy
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Herzog August Library, Wolfenbüttel, Germany
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Beatus Rhenanus Library, Basel, Switzerland
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Bernadotte Library, Stockholm Sweden
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Biblioteca Di Bella Arti, Milan, Italy
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Biblioteca do Palacio e Convento de Mafra I, Lisbon Coast, Portugal
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Biblioteca do Palàcio Nacional da Ajuda Lisboa III, Lisbon, Portugal
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Biblioteca Geral University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
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Biblioteca Palafoxiana, Puebla, Mexico
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Bibliotecha de la Real Academia De La Lengua, Madrid, Spain
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Bibliotheque Alencon, Normandy, France
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Bibliothéque Nationale de France, Paris, France
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Duke of Humphrey’s Library, Bodleian, Oxford University, England
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 Boston Copley Public Library, Boston, USA
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Old British Reading Room, British Museum, London, England
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Casanatense Library, Rome, Italy
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Cathedral Library, Kalocsa, Hungary
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Chetham’s Library, Manchester, UK
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Dutch Royal Archives Library, Netherlands
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El Escorial Library, San Lorenzo, Spain
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Frederick Ferris Thompson Memorial Library, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, USA
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George Peabody Library, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
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Handelingenkamer Tweede Kamer Der Staten-Generaal Den Haag, the Hague, Netherlands
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Hereford Cathedral Chained Library, Hereford, England
(Rare books were once kept chained to the bookshelf to prevent stealing.)
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Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek Weimar II, Germany
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Joanina LIbrary University of Coimbra, Portugal
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Kremsmuenster Abbey Library, Kremsmünster, Upper Austria.
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Biblioteca Castilla La Mancha, Spain
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Library of Congress, Washington, DC, USA
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Library of Parliament, Ottawa, Canada
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Library of St. Walburga, Zutphen, Netherland (Preserved from the 16th century)
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Library of the Benedictine Monastery of Admont, Austria
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Library of the Prussian King Frederick the Second in Potsdam, Germany
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Melk Monastery Library, Melk, Austria
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National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
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North Reading Room, UC Berkeley, California, USA (Terrific reader suggestion)
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New York Public Library, New York, USA
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Plantin-Moretus, Antwerp, Belgium
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Queen’s College Library Oxford
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Real Gabinete Portugues De Leitura, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (Possibly the most beautiful library of them all.)
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Charles Rennie Mackintosh Library, Glasgow School of Art, Scotland
(Added on excellent reader suggestion.)
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Riggs Library, Georgetown University, USA
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Rijkmuseum Library, Amsterdam
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 Jay Walker Private Library
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Riksdagen Library, Swedish Parliament Library, Stockholm, Sweden
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Tsarskoe Library, Heritage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
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St. Florian Monastery-Library, Austria
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Sansovino Library, Rome, Italy
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Sorbonne Library, Paris, France
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State Library, Victoria, Australia
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Stiftsbibliothek Klosterneuburg, Klosterneuburg, Austria
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The New Library of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
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Theology Room at St. Deiniol’s library, North Wales
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Trinity College LIbrary, AKA, The Long Room, Dublin, Ireland
Ihmihj Sohrs


University-Library, Helsinki, Finland
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Vatican Library, Vatican City, Rome
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Austrian National Library, Vienna, Austria
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Waldsassen Abbey Library, Bavaria, Germany
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Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge, England
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Yale, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
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Amelia S. Givin Library, Mount Holly Springs, PA
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Bad Schussenried Bibliothekssaal, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
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Bibliothèque Solvay, Brussels, Belgium
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Boston Athenæum, Boston, MA, USA
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Codrington Library, All Souls College, Oxford, England
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Cornell Law School Library, Ithaca, NY, USA
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Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington D.C., USA
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George Vanderbilt’s Biltmore House Library, Asheville, N.C., USA
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Harper Library, The University of Chicago, IL, USA
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John Rylands Library, Manchester, England
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Klementium Library, Prague, Czech Republic
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Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, Wales
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National Library of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
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Old Chicago Public Library (Current Cultural Center), Chicago, IL, USA
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Pierpont Morgan Library, NY, NY, USA
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Saxon State Library in Dresden, Germany (The reading room pictured is entirely underground, the ceiling being level with the grass.)
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Sterling Memorial Library, Yale, New Haven, Connecticut, USA (The rest of Sterling Library is incredible, but I particularly enjoy that wonderful library specialty, the card catalog)
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The Grolier Club Library, NY, NY, USA
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Law Library, Iowa State Legislature, IA, USA
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The St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, Northeast Vermont, USA
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Thomas Crane Library, Quincy MA, USA
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Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Toronto, Canada
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University of Michigan (Old) Law Library, MI, USA
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Widener Library, Harvard. Cambridge, MA, USA
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University of Washington’s Suzzallo Library Graduate Reading Room
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Salamanca University Library
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Wiblingen Monestary Library, Ulm, Germany
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A number of the more beautiful pictures in this set are by the outstanding photographer Ms. Candida Höfer. Let us highly suggest buying “Libraries” by the Candida Höfer. The opening pictures of Strahov are by Michelle Enemark (FUll disclosure:my wife) and can be found at the Curious Expeditions flickr account. Many other library pictures at the Flickr “Libraries and Librarians” group. 

For those of you still in the grip of Librophilia, if that’s possible, you can have a more immersive experience at the panoramas of the Handelingenkamer and Waldassen libraries, as well as watch a lovely video of the Bernadotte Library. For those looking for a gorgeous library closer to home, look no farther then “Libraries We Love” a book and blog dedicated to wonderful libraries in the U.S. Also of interest is “The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World.”

If even those can’t satisfy your desires try “The Renaissance Library Collection” which sells calenders, greeting cards, and posters of nothing but, yes, libraries. A tip of the hat to excellent blogs The Nonist and Sheila Omalley who had previously compiled some lovely library images. A number of the beautiful images in the compendium are from that ever wonderful resource Flickr. For additional source attribution please click here. Finally, if anyone feels that any particularly beautiful library has been overlooked please let us know.