While the occasion is rare when this travel writer recommends a library as a tourist attraction, the fact of the matter is that several around the world stand out as exceptional. From New York City to Paris, London to Washington, D.C., certain, shall we say, bookish institutions, take the Dewey decimal system and the entire notion of “library” to a whole new level.
Perhaps the most familiar library in popular culture, with references and roles in Sex and the City, Spider-Man, Seinfeld and Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The New York Public Library is as much a museum and cultural landmark as it is a place to borrow books. If you need a place to relax and read a good novel, newspaper or magazine in frenetic Manhattan, this is the spot.
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While it may come as a surprise that the Boston Public Library is the number one municipal library in the United States of America, erudite citizens of Beantown know that the National Historic Landmark is tops. The library has over 15 million volumes for one and every adult in the state of Massachusetts can obtain a card and borrow. The grand Renaissance revival structure has numerous halls, monuments and sculptures.
Still in the Boston area, the Widener Library on the campus of Harvard University is the lynchpin in a system with over 90 such academic and research institutions. The total library endowment of Harvard trumps many nations, let alone schools, and sits fifth in the world. Beautiful Beaux Arts Widener has a Gutenberg Bible and many other notable tomes. A trip to Harvard Yard in Cambridge, Massachusetts would be incomplete without a visit to the library.
Biblioth?que nationale de France
The de facto national library of France, known as the BnF, traces roots back to Charles V in 1368. The first free public library in the world by act of law in post-revolution 1793 underwent significant upgrades and ambitious expansion when former President Fran?ois Mitterrand was in office. The magnificent library over several sites on the River Seine contains over 10 million volumes and a vast digital collection.
The preeminent research institution in the United Kingdom, with a collection in excess of 150 million items, the British Library is a must-visit in beautiful London. One should run, not walk, to the library, which adds over 3 million books a year and contains a superlative array of rare manuscripts. The Sir John Ritblat Library holds treasures such as the Magna Carta and original works by Dickens, Bront?, Chaucer and Malory.
The paramount library in the United States of America is a behemoth, with over 32 million total print items that span three edifices in the capital city of Washington, D.C. Though the original aim of the library in 1800, under then President John Adams, was to serve as a research facility for the Congress, the national institution is open to everyone to explore. From antique Stradivarius violins, the original draft of the Declaration of Independence, over 6,000 comics and tens of terabytes of digital information, the Library of Congress is phenomenal. The supreme D.C. landmark also plays host to the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song and the National Book Festival.
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The city of Alexandria, with over 4 million people, is second only to Cairo in Egypt. In the ancient world, the city was famous and the notable home of the Library of Alexandria. Today, the spectacular Bibliotheca Alexandrina serves as a tribute to that academic and literary history. With space for almost 10 million books, the facility also contains a planetarium, three museums and four exhibition halls.
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