Everyone has some kind of place that makes them feel transported to a magical realm. For some people it’http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;s castles with their noble history and crumbling towers. For others it’http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;s abandoned factories, ivy choked, a sense of foreboding around every corner. For us here at Curious Expeditions, there has always been something about libraries. Row after row, shelf after shelf, there is nothing more magical than a beautiful old library.
We had a chance to see just such a library on our recent visit to Prague. Tucked away on the top of a hill in Prague is the Strahov Monestary, the second oldest monastery in Prague. Inside, divided into two major halls, is a breathtaking library. The amazing Theological Hall contains 18,000 religious texts, and the grand Philosophical Hall has over 42,000 ancient philosophical texts. Both are stunningly gorgeous. Strahov also contains a beautiful cabinet of curiosities, including bits of a Dodo bird, a large 18th century electrostatic device, numerous wonderfully old ocean specimens, and for unclear reasons many glass cases full of waxen fruit. Our delight was manifest.
Shocked into a library induced euphoria, Curious Expeditions has attempted to gather together the world’http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;s most beautiful libraries for you starting with our own pictures of Strahov. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Strahov Theological Hall –http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/; Original Baroque Cabinet

Strahov Theological Hallhttp://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/; Statue of John the Evangelist Holding a Book

Strahov Philosophical Hall

Abbey Library St. Gallen, Switzerland

Angelica Library, Rome, Italy

Herzog August Library, Wolfenbüttel, Germany

Beatus Rhenanus Library, Basel, Switzerland

Bernadotte Library, Stockholm Sweden

Biblioteca Angelica, Rome, Italy

Biblioteca Di Bella Arti, Milan, Italy

Biblioteca do Palacio e Convento de Mafra I, Lisbon Coast, Portugal

Biblioteca do Palàcio Nacional da Ajuda Lisboa III, Lisbon, Portugal

Biblioteca Geral University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

Biblioteca Palafoxiana, Puebla, Mexico

Bibliotecha de la Real Academia De La Lengua, Madrid, Spain

Bibliotheque Alencon, Normandy, France

Bibliothéque Nationale de France, Paris, France

Duke of Humphrey’http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;s Library, Bodleian, Oxford University, England

Boston Copley Public Library, Boston, USA

Old British Reading Room, British Museum, London, England

Casanatense Library, Rome, Italy

Cathedral Library, Kalocsa, Hungary

Chetham’http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;s Library, Manchester, UK

Dutch Royal Archives Library, Netherlands

El Escorial Library, San Lorenzo, Spain

Frederick Ferris Thompson Memorial Library, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, USA

George Peabody Library, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Handelingenkamer Tweede Kamer Der Staten-Generaal Den Haag, the Hague, Netherlands

Hereford Cathedral Chained Library, Hereford, England (Rare books were once kept chained to the bookshelf to prevent stealing.)

Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek Weimar II, Germany

Joanina LIbrary University of Coimbra, Portugal

Kremsmuenster Abbey Library, Kremsmünster, Upper Austria.

Biblioteca Castilla La Mancha, Spain

Library of Congress, Washington, DC, USA

Library of Parliament, Ottawa, Canada

Library of St. Walburga, Zutphen, Netherland (Preserved from the 16th century)

Library of the Benedictine Monastery of Admont, Austria

Library of the National Palace of Mafra, Portugal

Library of the Prussian King Frederic the Second in Potsdam, Germany

Melk Monastery Library, Melk, Austria

National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

North Reading Room, UC Berkeley, California, USA (Terrific reader suggestion)

New York Public Library, New York, USA

Plantin-Moretus, Antwerp, Belgium

Queen’http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;s College Library Oxford

Real Gabinete Portugues De Leitura Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (Possibly the most beautiful library of them all.)

Rennie Mackintosh Library, Glasgow School of Art, Scotland (Added on excellent reader suggestion.)

Riggs Library, Georgetown University, USA

Rijkmuseum Library, Amsterdam

Riksdagen Library, Swedish Parliament Library, Stockholm, Sweden

Russian National Library, St. Petersburg

St. Florian Monastery-Library, Austria

Salamanca Library, Salamanca, Spain

Sansovino Library, Rome, Italy

Sorbonne Library, Paris, France

State Library, Victoria, Australia

Stiftsbibliothek Klosterneuburg, Klosterneuburg, Austria

Suzzallo Library, Seattle, Washington, USA

The New Library of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh

Theology Room at St. Deiniol’http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;s library, North Wales

Trinity College LIbrary, AKA, The Long Room, Dublin, Ireland

University-Library, Helsinki, Finland

Vatican Library, Vatican City, Rome

Austrian National Library, Vienna, Austria

Waldsassen Abbey Library, Bavaria, Germany

Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge, England

Yale, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

At the end of this post we at Curious Expeditions asked for beautiful libraries we had overlooked. Turns out, there were a lot. In fact, more than we will ever be able to post. But in the spirit of the compendium below we have put up some of our favorites from the reader suggested libraries. Thanks to everyone who suggested a library, it’http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;s fantastic to see that we aren’http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;t the only ones with a bad case of librophila. (We also apologize to anyone who suffers a scrolling related injury.)

Amelia S. Givin Library, Mount Holly Springs, PA

Bad Schussenried Bibliothekssaal, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana, Florence, Italy

Bibliothèque Solvay, Brussels, Belgium

Boston Athenæum, Boston, MA, USA

Codrington Library, All Souls College, Oxford, England

Cornell Law School Library, Ithaca, NY, USA

Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington D.C., USA

George Vanderbilt’http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;s Biltmore House Library, Asheville, N.C., USA

Harper Library, The University of Chicago, IL, USA

John Rylands Library, Manchester, England (Thanks to Edward Brownrigg and John Rylands)

Klementium Library, Prague, Czech Republic

Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, Wales

National Library of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland

Old Chicago Public Library (Current Cultural Center), Chicago, IL, USA

Pierpont Morgan Library, NY, NY, USA

Saxon State Library in Dresden, Germany (The reading room pictured is entirely underground, the ceiling being level with the grass.)

Sterling Memorial Library, Yale, New Haven, Connecticut, USA (The rest of Sterling Library is incredible, but I particularly enjoy that wonderful library specialty, the card catalog)

The Grolier Club Library, NY, NY, USA

Law Library, Iowa State Legislature, IA, USA

The St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, Northeast Vermont, USA

Thomas Crane Library, Quincy MA, USA

Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Toronto, Canada

University of Michigan (Old) Law Library, MI, USA

Widener Library, Harvard. Cambridge, MA, USA

Wiblingen Monestary Library, Ulm, Germany

While there were a number of amazing modern libraries suggested, such as the Phillips Exeter Academy Library, the new Seattle Public Library, the leafy Washoe County Library in Reno and the astounding looking Biblioteca Vasconcelos in Mexico, we leave it up to someone else to assemble a beautiful modern libraries compendium.
For those of you still in the grip of Librophilia, if that’http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;s possible, you can have a more immersive experience at the panoramas of the Handelingenkamer and Waldassen libraries, as well as watch a lovely video of the Bernadotte Library. One can find more Strahov pictures at the Curious Expeditions flickr account, and many other library pictures at the Flickr “http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;Libraries and Librarians”http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/; group.
If all this library leering has made you long to hold a book in your hands, then let us suggest “http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;Libraries”http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/; by the outstanding photographer Candida Höfer. A number of the more beautiful pictures in this set are by Ms. Höfer. For those looking for a gorgeous library closer to home, look no farther then “http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;Libraries We Love”http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/; a book and blog dedicated to wonderful libraries in the U.S. Also of interest is “http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World.”http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/; If even those can’http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;t satisfy your desires try “http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;The Renaissance Library Collection”http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/; which sells calenders, greeting cards, and posters of nothing but, yes, libraries.
A tip of the hat to excellent blogs The Nonist and Sheila Omalley who had previously compiled some lovely library images. A number of the beautiful images in the compendium are from that ever wonderful resource Flickr.
Finally, if anyone feels that any particularly beautiful library has been overlooked please let us know.