I just came across a site that has posted photographs of the most beautiful libraries in the world. Most are in Europe, but there are a few in the Americas, including an impressive one in Puebla, Mexico, and a gorgeous one in Brazil (the authors tout it as the most beautiful of them all, and I'm not going to disagree). Click, and marvel.
I want to visit each one. And right now. I've managed to hit a couple, such as the Copley library in Boston, but that's not nearly enough.
Many of them are a bit too ornate for me to get serious reading done. Still, I can only applaud the aesthetic celebration of books. At the same time, it makes me a little dissatisfied with the gray fortress that is the Portland Public Library's downtown branch, a building so bland and forgettable that Google refuses to honor my request for images of it.
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Personal fav is
Abbey Library St. Gallen, Switzerland
Love the way the tops of columns flow into the ceiling art.
Ooh, but my mom pointed out that you forgot the unparalleled Pensacola Public Library. Ah, the architectural splendor of my youth.
http://www.cityofpensacola.com/library/upload/images/pensacolalib
OMG -- the Brazilian library is breathtaking. How can a place like that be real?
There's a book on this very topic that I've wanted for a long time:
The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World by Guillaume de Laubier, Jacques Bosser, James H. Billington, and Laurel Hirsch (trans.). Makes me wonder if the post's pictures -- or some of them -- came from this book.
I'm with you on the libraries that look and feel more like museums than places to absorb learning. I've never gotten over my resentment of the OP library, which everyone else here seems to love -- apparently the one it replaced was a true monstrosity. But, it smells like a school cafeteria and feels cold. I infinitely prefer our antiquated post office, which smells like old paper and has the high ceilings that give good libraries their noisy acoustic hush.
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