The grand State Hall of the Austrian National Library.
Robert shushed me as we walked into the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek or the Austrian National Library in Vienna. Instead of making me quiet, it made me laugh, reminding me of being 10 years old in school and told to use my library voice. Luckily, we did not get kicked out and I was able to see the baroque beauty of this hall which was built between 1723-26. The library is in Josefsplatz in the also gorgeous Hofburg complex, the former emperor’s residence and it’s the most gorgeous one I’ve ever seen, with frescoes painted on the ceiling and statues and globes around the hall. And of course, there’s an amazing collection of books that I would have loved to have looked through.
By the way, I’ve been back in Stockholm for a week now, but have been delayed in posting as I’ve spent the last several days with family visiting Stockholm. I’ll share some of their visit soon.
Apparently, there are 200,00 books printed between 1501-1850 stored in the library.
In total, the Austrian National Library owns about 8 million books.
We really wanted to be able to sneak around upstairs too. But we behaved.
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I love libraries – but that has to be the most beautiful one I have ever seen.
It is gorgeous, isn’t it? Thanks Jane.
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