When she was a little girl, Angela Wong’s favourite movie was Disney’s Beauty And The Beast. She would re-watch the 1991 animated film time and again just to relive memorable scenes.
Her favourite part in the movie, however, was when Belle discovered the library in Beast’s castle for the very first time.
“Being an avid reader, I could relate to Belle’s happiness when she saw the library. It was the first time she saw so many books in her life,” the marketing and branding assistant manager said.
Calling herself a “bookaholic”, Wong said she would often fantasise about being in a magnificent library like the one depicted in the animated film.
“I know it’s not real and that it’s just a cartoon, but the movie did a really good job at creating this magical place for book lovers,” she said, adding that she wouldn’t mind being held captive (like Belle did in the movie) at such a place.
Over the years, the library from Beauty And The Beast has lived on in the realm of pop culture. Journalists and travel writers would often liken great libraries to the one depicted in the film.
There have been many speculations as to which real-life library inspired the fictional one in the Disney classic. It’s been said that animators took a research trip to France while preparing the illustrations for the original classic fairytale. Unfortunately, most information about the exact locations which inspired places in the film are just hearsay.
Some fans have pointed out that there are libraries which bear uncanny resemblances to the one featured in the film. These include Bibliotheca Joanina (Portugal), Admont Abbey Library (Austria) and the Oval Reading Room at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
“Maybe I’ll plan a trip to some of these libraries once the Covid-19 situation improves,” Wong said.
New tourism concept
There are travellers who plan their holiday around visiting iconic libraries around the world. This is called bibliotourism or library tourism, a relatively recent concept and an emerging segment of cultural tourism.
It was something that was discussed by researchers Maria Isabel Roque and Dália Guerreiro in a journal titled Reading The Tourist Destination: Bibliotourism And Place Perception.
The researchers said libraries could be an important asset to a country’s tourism economy.
“Considering that the cultural tourism motivations are related to learning, experiencing and understanding the place’s history, culture and heritage in both intangible and tangible components, libraries, as documental (sic) repositories, are crucial to support the tourist’s information needs and demands,” they said.
Bibliotourism, according to the researchers, is based on the recognition of libraries as tourist attractions.
While the concept is new, libraries have long been considered places of interest because of their architectural, historical or artistic value.
“The building’s architecture, the artistic bookshelf displays, and the value of the collection may be offered as cultural values, determining the library as a tourist attraction,” the researchers said.
Roque and Guerreiro also pointed out that library tourism should not be confused with literary tourism. The latter involves visiting sites connected with books and authors.
“The definition of the concept of bibliotourism involves the affirmation of the library as a tourism product, but it also implies libraries’ commitment with these specific tasks: provide cultural services and facilities; establish connections between tourists and locals; promote knowledge of the place to increase the tourist experience,” they said.
Much to discover
The idea of libraries as tourism hotspots is perhaps best personified through online communities. There are community forums dedicated solely to the pursuit of visiting beautiful libraries.
A noteworthy project is called Library Planet by Danish librarians Christian Lauersen and Marie Eiriksson. The website is a global, crowdsourced, online library travel guide.
The name of the online project is also a cheeky nod to the Australian-made Lonely Planet travel guide series.
According to Lauersen and Eiriksson, they started the project to make it easier for people to travel to libraries.
“Libraries are rarely part of traditional guidebooks unless they are very big flagship-type of libraries or historical libraries. We also want to know about the small libraries and the weird libraries that you would not otherwise hear about,” they said in an interview with Princh.
But even if you’re not an avid reader, libraries are still fascinating places to travel to. At times, it could be an invaluable resource when you’re in a foreign country, said Roque and Guerreiro.
Libraries, they said, increase the knowledge of territories where they are located in.
“In this sense, libraries play a fundamental role in tourism, not only by providing services and events, mostly of free access but, above all, by promoting the relationship between tourists and residents, which are called to collaborate in the construction of narratives about of the place, its culture and its traditions,” the researchers said.
But let’s face it, a main motivation for travel is to see beautiful things. Here, we tracked down some of the most unique and breathtaking libraries around the world.
The opulence of this library betrays the fact that it is actually housed in a former Benedictine abbey. With geometric marble floors and gleaming porcelain statues, the posh interior looks like it belonged in a palace.
That luxurious facade could be partly because the library was built at the pinnacle of the German region’s wealth in the 18th century. An ambitious renovation and expansion project turned the abbey, along with its library, into a magnificent Baroque masterpiece.
The two-storey library features an elaborate gallery supported by multiple columns. True to the religious background of the building, the statues here portray Christian values and disciplines. Interestingly, the books are arranged by the corresponding values represented by the statues.
Designed by Zaha Hadid, this library has a sleek and modern look that’s reminiscent of the late Iraqi-British architect’s iconic style. The exterior of the building portrays the duality of light and dark, with its cantilevered roof visible even from afar.
The interior is equally impressive, with a futuristic entrance hall greeting visitors upon arrival. Going further in will reveal two segments that are connected by walkways. Spiral ramps and stairways snake through the six-storey building.
The collection here includes approximately 650,000 volumes, making it Austria’s largest specialist library focusing on business and economics. It is also one of the biggest libraries in the German-speaking world.
The combination of glass and steel structures and wooden facade all make this library very visually striking. Commonly referred to as the Oodi, it’s a relatively new building, having only been opened in 2018.
Located in the heart of Helsinki opposite the Finnish Parliament, Oodi is the new central point for the city’s public library network. Visitors will find that the library is divided into three floors. There’s an active ground floor, a quieter upper floor, and an enclosed middle floor with specific function rooms. There’s also a movie theatre and a sauna inside!
Ironically, only one third of the space within the library is used to hold books. True to its forward-thinking nature, Oodi focuses more on technology within its walls. Patrons will find a galore of online services and a team of book-sorting robots.
Fans of the Harry Potter world might find familiar comforts within the walls of this library. This is partly due to the Neo-Gothic architecture of the interior.
The library has been a part of The University of Manchester since 1972. Today, it is the third largest academic library in Britain. It has a catalogue of 1.4 million items, including many special collections.
Located within a sprawling palace complex, this Renaissance-era library introduced the “wall system” that we are so used to today. It was the first institution to display books and manuscripts in shelves along the walls.
Previously, a library’s collection was kept in bays placed at right angles. The new system meant that book titles would be visible, making it more convenient for readers to skim through. The initial collection of over 4,000 volumes came from King Philip II.
Currently the library has more than 40,000 volumes – all housed within a great hall with marble floors and beautifully carved wooden shelves. The great hall itself is an incredible feat of beauty and design. The vault of the library’s ceiling is decorated with frescoes painted by legendary mural painter Pellegrino Tibaldi. The murals depict scenes from classical history that represent the seven ancient arts: grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy.
Back in 2017, people were stunned by the viral pictures of an amazing library that had just opened in China. The pictures mostly showed cascading floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, making them look like waves. The space is question is the Tianjin Binhai Library in the Hebei province of China, which is near Beijing. The five-storey public library is used as a cultural centre for the Tianjin municipality, featuring a luminous spherical auditorium that’s surrounded by the undulating bookcases.
These bookcases not just frame the space, they are also used to create stairs, seating and the ceiling! (The “books” on the ceiling are actually aluminium plates printed to look like books.)
Seen from the outside, the 33,700sq m building actually displays the shape of an eye when the space inside is lit up, as the contours of the shelves and walls create a shell, with a pearl in the centre.
Architecture firm MRDV from the Netherlands was the brains behind this amazing structure.
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