In a world where you can order used books for 2p from Amazon and get them to your door the next day, it’s a magical thing when people get excited about a bookshop.

Because bookshops bring people together in a shared love of reading. They let you aimlessly browse, bringing you books you may never have otherwise discovered. They’re soothing places where book-lovers go to feel restored.

Which is all glorious in itself, and true of even the humblest, tiniest second-hand bookshop around the corner.

But this particular bookshop is something special.


El Ateneo Grand Splendid Bookstore is a bookshop in Buenos Aires, Argentina (which is home to a total of 734 bookshops, if you needed a reason to visit).



It’s super fancy because it used to be a theatre, then a cinema, then in 2000 it was reformed by architect Fernando Manzone, who turned it into a bookshop.

Fernando kept the ceiling, the stage curtains, and all the other incredible design details of the theatre, and just added cosy reading areas and comfy sofas.

Oh, and books. Lots of books.

Floors and floors filled with shelves and shelves of books, stacked on balconies with views of the stage. It’s incredible.

In short, we need to visit this bookshop. We’d quite like to live there forever, actually.

Take us there.

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