22 Pictures Of Beautiful Libraries That I Took While Traveling Around The World
I am a travel photographer from New York and I visited 101 countries to explore our everyday world. My favorite subject to shoot is architecture.
Libraries hold some of the most treasured interior architecture that I have ever seen. They are beautiful, colorful, ornate and exquisite to photograph. Here are many of the libraries that I have photographed during my travels.
Over the course of my career, my work has been exhibited in both museums and galleries, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, NY, AGallery in New York, NY, the Krause Gallery in New York, NY, The Skyscraper Museum in New York, NY and VERVE Art Fair, in Brooklyn, NY.
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NY Public Library, New York
Strahov Library, Prague, Czech Republic
Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library, Antwerp, Belgium
Real Gabinete Library, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
Saint Genevieve Library, Paris, France
Austrian National Library, Vienna, Austria
State Library Of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Stuttgart Municipal Library, Stuttgart, Germany
Red Cross Library, Lisbon, Portugal
House Of The Redeemer Library, New York, NY
The F***k Museum also has a small library section. And a garden. And two paintings: Holbein and the anti-Holbein. The NYC public library is a wonderful place. The Greenwich library in CT has an agreement with the NYC library; I used that to check out books not available in the Greenwich stacks. Libraries carry our history; libraries are the soul of civilizations. The printing press made it possible for all people to access written material. The monks left a legacy of beauty in their illustrated works; I saw some of those lovely small books in Antwerp, Belgium. Protect our libraries and our right to vote: they represent civilization from over 2,000 yrs. ago.
Riiks Museum Library, Amsterdam, Netherlands
This interior just seems so warm and inviting--I love the spiral staircase.
Los Angeles Public Library, Los Angeles, California
Jose Vasconcelos Library, Mexico City, Mexico
At first I thought I was looking at a old school cafeteria. The rails on each side looked like the partitions where you get your food on both sides,in a single moving line. 😳
Boston Public Library, Boston, Mass
Vienna College Library, Vienna, Austria
Biblioteca Joanina, Coimbra, Portugal
University Library, Leuven, Belgium
Mafra Library Iv, Portugal
National Library Of China, Beijing
Mitchell Library, Sydney, Australia
National Library Of Latvia, Riga, Latvia
These are great pictures. It is interesting that some people like their libraries grand and imposing, while other people prefer them to be cozy.
When people treasure something, they make it sacred. (I'm don't necessarily mean "divine," [godly] only "sacred" [set apart]) They house it in glorious settings with architecture that makes you look up, at soaring ceilings (the word literally means, "sky"), ornate structures, ornamentation. You must stop as you enter, to embrace your surroundings. The treasure must have a home worthy of itself, and it's obvious in most cases, even the Chinese National Library, that the designers of these buildings loved and treasured books. It's a very telling comparison with some modern churches, which Christians believe contain the very glory of the almighty God, and yet often look ugly, dead, brutal, concrete. Every time I see that bus station of a church that Pope Francis prefers to the Sistine Chapel, I feel a sense of outrage.
These are great pictures. It is interesting that some people like their libraries grand and imposing, while other people prefer them to be cozy.
When people treasure something, they make it sacred. (I'm don't necessarily mean "divine," [godly] only "sacred" [set apart]) They house it in glorious settings with architecture that makes you look up, at soaring ceilings (the word literally means, "sky"), ornate structures, ornamentation. You must stop as you enter, to embrace your surroundings. The treasure must have a home worthy of itself, and it's obvious in most cases, even the Chinese National Library, that the designers of these buildings loved and treasured books. It's a very telling comparison with some modern churches, which Christians believe contain the very glory of the almighty God, and yet often look ugly, dead, brutal, concrete. Every time I see that bus station of a church that Pope Francis prefers to the Sistine Chapel, I feel a sense of outrage.
