The Most Beautiful Libraries In The World

September 18, 2015

The following libraries, most of them hundreds of years old, are absolutely breathtaking...

Abbey Library of Saint Gall, Switzerland

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The library collection is the oldest in Switzerland, and is one of earliest and most important monastic libraries in the world. It holds 2,100 manuscripts dating back to the 8th through the 15th centuries.

During a fire in 937, the Abbey was destroyed, but the library remained intact.

The World's Largest Monastery Library in Admont, Austria.

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Dedicated to Saint Blaise, Admont Abbey was founded in 1074 by Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg. Admont Abbey contains the largest monastic library in the world, as well as a long-established scientific collection.

Lello in Porto, Portugal

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This is actually a bookstore in Porto, but it was too beautiful not to include since it holds books and all.

The Monastery Library in Pannonhalma, Hungary

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The library was finished in the first third of the 19th century. As of today, 360,000 volumes are kept in the collection.

Trinity College Library in Ireland

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Ireland's largest library began with the founding of Trinity College in 1592. In 1661, Henry Jones presented it with the Book of Kells, its most famous manuscript.

And we saved the best for last. The most beautiful library in the world...

The Klementinum Library in Prague, Czech Republic

Sean Yan

The Klementinum Library opened in 1722 and currently houses over 20,000 books. The ceiling frescoes were painted by Jan Hiebl.

Olivier Martel Savoie

klementinum.com

(h/t) bored panda.