If it came down to it, I think I could live in a library. The tall shelves teeming with books, the thousands of topics, the infinite pages. There’s something about a library that makes me feel so incredibly connected with the entire world. When you think about it, this is probably the only type of institution that almost completely encapsulates the millions and trillions of things that exist. Maybe you’re like me, and could live out your entire life in a library, never uninterested, never stagnant. With libraries comes the potential to truly become immersed in all that we can. It’s all at our fingertips, and that’s kind of amazing to think about.
Maybe you’re not like me at all, and none of this makes sense, but it is one of my dreams to visit as many libraries around the world as possible. If given the chance, here are five incredibly unique libraries around the world that I hope to travel to one day.
1. St. Catherine's Monastery - South Sinai, Egypt
The oldest continually operated library in the world, St. Catherine's Monastery has been around since it was first built by the order of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, sometime around 564 AD. It currently holds over 3,000 religious and education manuscripts and approximately 8,000 printed books, including first editions of Homer and Plato.
2. Bibliotecha Alexandrina - Alexandria, Egypt
Unfortunately, nothing remains of the original Library of Alexandria - the biggest and most prominent library of the ancient world. The thing is, nobody knows for sure exactly when and how it was destroyed. But nearly 2,000 years later, the new Bibliotheca Alexandrina opened as a homage to the original. Reinventing a piece of the ancient world in the modern time, the new Alexandria Library is the only location of a mirrored back-up copy of the Internet Archive, home of the Internet Wayback Machine.
3. Taipei Public Library - Beitou, Taiwan
The Beitou branch of the Taipei Public Library system was the first building in Taiwan to receive the highest EEWH rating possible - the diamond rating - making it the most eco-conscious building in the country. Built with wood from sustainable, managed forests, the library also uses photovoltaic cells to generate power, has an insulating 20-centimeter layer of soil on the roof, and uses collected rainwater to flush toilets. And books. Don't forget those.
4. Trinity College Long Room - Dublin, Ireland
Ireland's oldest university, Trinity College, is also the location of the largest library in Ireland. The oldest and rarest of its collection is housed in the Long Room, the largest single-chamber library in the world with over 200,000 volumes preserved inside. Aside from famously housing one of Ireland's national emblems, the Brian Boru harp, the Long Room made headlines again recently for serving as "unofficial" inspiration for the Jedi Archives in "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones."
5. Library of Congress - Washington, DC, USA
The Library of Congress in Washington, DC is the largest library in the world with over 151.8 million items sitting on 838 miles of bookshelves. Think about that! Maybe the massive collection is trying to compensate for its smallest book - a 1/25" x 1/25" copy of "Old King Cole," the pages of which can only be turned with the help of a needle.
