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The Reading Room

Another view of the reading room in John Rylands Library on Deansgate manchester.

 

Commissioned by the wife of John Rylands (Enriqueta Rylands) as a memorial to her late husband, to house a collection of 40,000 books including many rarities. designed by architect Basil Champneys and built between 1890-1899 in a Gothic Victorian design reminiscent of church architecture.

 

White marble statues of John and Enriqueta sculpted by John Cassidy can be found facing each other at either end of the main reading room. By todays standards, the legacy left by John Rylands to his wife amounted to £250,000,000

 

The stone used to build the library is known locally as 'Shawk' being pink or buff in colour and is originally quarried near Penrith in Cumbria.

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Uploaded on July 25, 2009
Taken on July 25, 2009