100 Majestic Libraries Every Book Lover Should See

For those of you who have the opportunity to travel the world and visit exotic new lands, here is an updated version of our most beautiful libraries list. Even if you can’t travel to all these places, think of this image gallery as a digital trip around the world.

This time around we aimed to create the ultimate list by having the 100 most visually striking libraries from all over the world. If you would like to jump straight to a specific country, just click on the links below. Enjoy!





Barr Smith Library at the University of Adelaide, Australia

Mitchell Library, Sydney, Australia

State Library of South Australia

State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.

Austrian National Library, Vienna, Austria.

Kremsmünster Abbey Library, Austria.

Melk Monastery Library, Austria.

St. Florian Abbey Library, Sankt Florian, Austria.

The University Library of Graz, Austria.

Vorarlberg State Library, Bregenz, Austria.

Royal Portuguese Reading Room, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The National Library of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro.

Central Library of Vancouver, Canada.

Library of Parliament, Ottawa, Canada.

The National Library of Chile, Santiago.

Liyuan Library, Beijing, China.

National Library of China, Beijing.

Virgilio Barco Library, Colombia, Bogotá.

Clementinum National Library, Prague, Czech Republic.

Strahov Monastery Theological Library, Prague, Czech Republic.

The Royal Library Of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Alexandria Library, Egypt.

Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris.

Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève, Paris, France.

La Sorbonne Reading Room, Paris, France.

Herzog August Library, Wolfenbüttel, Germany.

Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Zentrum, Berlin, Germany.

Leipzig University Library, Germany.

Philological Library of the Free University, Berlin, Germany.

Saxon State and University Library, Dresden, Germany.

Stuttgart City Library, Germany.

Wiblingen Monastery Library, Ulm, Germany.

Utrecht University Library, Holland.

Connemara Public Library, Chennai, India.

Trinity College Dublin Library, Ireland.

Angelica Library, Rome, Italy.

Biblioteca Malatestiana, Cesena, Italy.

Pontifical Lateran University Library, Rome, Italy.

Kanazawa Umimirai Library, Japan.

Musashino Art University Museum & Library, Tokyo, Japan.

Tama Art University Library, Tokyo, Japan.

Vilnius University Library, Lithuania.

José Vasconcelos Library, Mexico City, Mexico.

Palafoxiana Library, Heroica Puebla de Zaragoza, Mexico.

Old Library (Handelingenkamer), The Hague, Netherlands.

Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Rijksmuseum Research Library, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

University of Otago Central Library, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Grand People’s Study House, Pyongyang, North Korea.

Vennesla Library and Cultural Center, Vennesla, Norway.

Lehigh University Library, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Casa de la Literatura Peruana, Lima, Peru.

The Library of the San Francisco Monastery, Lima, Peru.

Warsaw University Library, Poland.

Biblioteca Joanina, Coimbra, Portugal.

Mafra Palace Library, Mafra, Portugal.

The University of Coimbra General Library, Portugal.

Tripitaka Koreana, Haeinsa Temple, South Korea.

The Escorial Library, Madrid, Spain.

University of Salamanca Library, Spain.

Malmö City Library, Malmö, Sweden.

Abbey Library of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Beitou Library, Taipei, Taiwan.

Bristol Central Library, Bristol, UK.

Brotherton Library, University of Leeds, England, UK.

Codrington Library, All Soul’s College, Oxford University, UK.

Library of Birmingham, UK.

Merton College Library, Oxford, UK.

Queen’s College Library, Oxford University, UK.

Sir Duncan Rice Library, Aberdeen, UK.

The Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK.

Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge University, UK.

Armstrong Browning Library, Waco, United States.

Bapst Library, Boston, United States.

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New Haven, United States.

Boston Public Library, United States.

Cornell Law School Library, Ithaca, United States.

Cornell University Uris Library, Ithaca, United States.

Fisher Fine Arts Library, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States.

Fleet Library, Rhode Island School of Design, United States.

Hearst Castle Gothic Study, San Simeon, United States.

The Paul Barret Jr. Library at Rhodes College, Tennessee, United States.

Indianapolis Public Library, United States.

Iowa State Capital Law Library, United States.

Library of Congress, Washington D.C., United States.

Los Angeles Central Library, United States.

New York Public Library, United States.

Phillips Exeter Academy Library, New Hampshire, United States.

Seattle Central Library, Seattle, United States.

Suzzallo Library’s Graduate Reading Room at the University of Washington, Seattle, United States.

The Harper Library Reading Room, University of Chicago, United States.

The Joe & Rika Mansueto Library, University of Chicago, United States.

The Peabody Library, Baltimore, United States.

The Walker Library of The History of Human Imagination, Stamford, United States.

Thompson Memorial Library, Arlington, United States.

University of Michigan Law Library, Ann Arbor, United States.

Williston Memorial Library, Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts, United States.









Want to dive even deeper into the history and architecture of libraries?



From the ancient world to the electronic age, “The Library: A World History” by James W. P. Campbell and Will Pryce, is a great coffee table book that includes beautiful photography and great historical facts on many of the libaries featured on this post.









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