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Clementinum - Prague:
The baroque Library Hall, with its rare gilded globes and spectacular frescoes depicting science and art, is just one building in the vast Clementinum complex. Legend says the Jesuits had only one book when they started building the library in 1622; when they were done, the collection had swelled to 20,000 volumes. Labels on the bookshelves are original to the library’s opening, as are volumes with “whitened backs and red marks,” markers left by the Jesuits. Tours run daily.
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The library at Mafra National Palace in Portugal:
The palace was built by a king who vowed to create it if his wife gave him descendants, which she did. The magnificent floor is covered with tiles of rose, grey and white marble. The wooden bookshelves in Rococo style are situated on the sidewalls in two rows, separated by a balcony with a wooden railing. They contain over 35,000 leather-bound volumes, attesting of the extent of western knowledge from the 14th to the 19th century. Among them, are many valuable bibliographical jewels, such as incunabula (books printed before the year 1500). These beautiful finished volumes were bound in the local workshop (Livraria) in the rocaille style.
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The Royal Library Copenhagen in Denmark:
Known as the Black Diamond, this neo-Modernist building was built in 1999 as an addition to the Royal Library’s original complex. Its striking steel, glass, and black granite structure contains a concert hall, a popular café, and exhibition spaces. The Black Diamond treats visitors to spectacular harbor views and a ceiling fresco by one of Denmark’s most famous artists, Per Kirkeby. Guided tours are available on Saturdays.
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George Peabody Library, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore:
The Peabody Stack Room’s five-tier soaring atrium has wrought-iron balconies and columns so graceful that Nathaniel H. Morison, its first provost, called it a “cathedral of books.” It’s one of America’s most beautiful college libraries, with a setting so gorgeous that weddings and special events are often held here. Bibliophiles come not only for the design but to browse 18th- and 19th-century volumes of archaeology as well as British and American history and literature.
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Royal Portuguese Reading Room, Rio de Janeiro:
A group of far-from-home Portuguese immigrants banded together to create a Portuguese library in 1837, although construction on the Real Gabinete Português de Leitura didn’t get going until 1880. The neo-Manueline building’s limestone façade showcases Portuguese explorers like Prince Henry the Navigator, Vasco da Gama, and Pedro Álvares Cabral in sculpture. The cathedral-like reading room has a stained-glass dome and wooden galleries. Its ornate bookshelves hold the largest collection of Portuguese literature outside of the motherland. Open Monday to Friday.
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Library of congress Washington:
When the original library burned down in 1814, Thomas Jefferson seeded a new one with his own much broader collection of books. Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom, stands guard in mosaic form above the main reading room, and scrolls, books, and torches pop up throughout the Library of Congress. Highlights include the main reading room, the Gutenberg Bible (one of 42 left in the world), and free classical concerts. Open Monday to Saturday.
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Central library of Vancouver, Canada:
Architect Moshe Safdie’s creation resembles a modern-day Colosseum. You enter the Central Library through a huge skylit concourse, which contains shops and cafés and acts as an urban gathering point. Bridges inside the library connect to reading and study areas in the outer walls. Plans are under way to reclaim two of the building’s top floors from other tenants in order to expand the rooftop garden and make it accessible to the public. Open seven days a week.
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Musachino Art university Museum and library, Tokyo:
Presenting the most library-like library ever: Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto designed the Art University’s 26,900-square-foot space to be constructed from light-wood bookshelves walled in with glass. Even the stairs have built-in shelves, though they’re currently empty. Compared by Fujimoto to “a forest of books,” the building stands as a powerful visual testament to the bound book’s enduring power. The museum and library are open to visitors; hours vary.
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Trinity College Old Library, Dublin:
The 200-foot Long Room is the most striking element of this library; marble busts of famous writers like Jonathan Swift (Gulliver’s Travels) line the walkway, and a barrel-vaulted ceiling arches overhead. Many visitors come first and foremost to see the Book of Kells, a lavishly decorated manuscript containing the four Gospels of the New Testament. Originally founded by Queen Elizabeth I in 1592, the current structure was built beginning in 1712. The Old Library and the Book of Kells Exhibition are open for self-guided tours daily.
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Stuttgart City Library, Germany:
From the outside, the nine-story building can appear as a monolithic cube. But at sunset the façade’s glass bricks take on a glow, and after dark they are illuminated with blue lights. Inside, the dramatic all-white interior has a five-story reading room shaped as an upside-down pyramid, plus meeting rooms, a café, and a rooftop terrace. The arresting building was designed to become the city’s cultural heart. Patrons are welcome to settle in with a book or turn up after hours for the “Library for Insomniacs,” which keeps a small selection of material.
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Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria:
Alexandria’s original library was destroyed by fire or battle more than 1,600 years ago. Today’s Bibliotheca Alexandrina seeks to recapture the original’s spirit of public learning. Opened in 2002, the massive disc-shaped building has a huge reading room that tilts toward the sea while the façade is covered in letters and characters from more than a hundred different languages. The building also contains a planetarium, four museums, academic research centers, and a multimedia presentation of Egypt’s heritage. Open Sunday to Thursday.
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Bodleian Library, Oxford University, England:
Duke Humfrey’s medieval reading room stood in for the Hogwarts library in the Harry Potter movies. And the wood-paneled room—with its low, ornately worked ceiling and somber lighting—looks like the perfect place to brush up on ancient spells. Before it was made famous on the big screen, generations of scholars including kings, Nobel Prize winners, and British prime ministers studied here. Access to the reading rooms as well as the Radcliffe Camera and the Divinity School are by guided tour only.
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Connemara Public Library, Chennai, India:
Part of a cultural complex that includes a theater, a museum, and an art gallery, Connemara Public Library was established in 1896. It continues to receive copies of all books, periodicals, and newspapers published in India. Designed by H. Irvin, the consulting architect to the government of the time, the majestic building has a circular entrance that opens into a stately reading room with an elaborately decorated ceiling, teak balconies, and stained-glass windows. Open weekdays and Sunday.
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Mortlock Wing State Library, Adelaide, Australia:
When this two-story library opened in 1884, officials were pleased by its majesty, yet felt it was missing something—a timepiece. The Dent and Sons clock still holds pride of place at the end of the reading room, high up on the wrought-iron and gold ornamented balcony. (A staff member winds it once a week.) One feature that’s been replicated in more modern libraries is the glass roof; its dome lets in natural light and enhances the warmth of the beautiful room. Open daily.
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Beitou Branch of the Taipei Public Library, Taiwan:
With its rooftop gardens, park setting, and airy, sunlit interior, the Beitou Branch feels like an oasis in the midst of skyscraper-filled Taipei. The eco-friendly library, which has won numerous awards since its 2006 opening, features water reclamation, solar panels, and natural ventilation. It’s a green space that is also gorgeous and invites visitors to curl up with a book on open-air balconies. Open seven days a week.
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In this next lesson, we look at libraries.
Speaking
Grammar
Video Watching
Task: Write a letter
Copy and fill in the schedule and answer the questions below.
