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The Reading Room
The Reading Room stands at the heart of the Museum, in the center of the Great Court. Completed in 1857, it was hailed as one of the great sights of London and became a world-famous center of learning.
The Reading Room is currently closed.
Design
By the early 1850s, the British Museum Library needed a larger reading room.
Antonio Panizzi, the Keeper of Printed Books (1837–1856), had the idea of constructing a round room in the empty central courtyard of the Museum building.
Construction
With a design by Sydney Smirke (1798-1877), work on the Reading Room began in 1854. Three years later it was completed. Using cast iron, concrete, glass and the latest heating and ventilation systems, it was a masterpiece of mid-19th century technology.
The room had a diameter of 42.6m (140ft) and was inspired by the domed Pantheon in Rome. However, it isn’t a free-standing dome in the technical sense.
It has been constructed in segments on a cast-iron framework. The ceiling is suspended on cast iron struts hanging down from the frame and is made out of papier-mâché.
Many bookstacks were built surrounding the new Reading Room. They were made of iron to take the weight of the books and protect them against fire.
In all, they contained three miles (4.8km) of bookcases and 25 miles (40km) of shelves.
Early Years
The Reading Room opened on May 2, 1857. Between 8-16 May, the Library was opened up for a special one-off public viewing. More than 62,000 visitors came to marvel at the new building.
Those wanting to use it had to apply in writing and were issued a reader’s ticket by the Principal Librarian.
Among those granted tickets were: Karl Marx, Lenin (who signed in under the name Jacob Richter) and novelists such as Bram Stoker and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Restoration and Exhibition Space
In 1997 the books were moved to a new purpose-built building in St. Pancras and the bookstacks were taken down.
As part of the Great Court development the interior of the Reading Room was carefully restored. This process saw the papier mâché interior of the dome repaired and the original blue, cream and gold color scheme reinstated.
When it reopened in 2000, the Reading Room was made available to all Museum visitors for the first time.
It housed a modern information center, the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Center, and a collection of 25,000 books, catalogs and other printed material, which focused on the world cultures represented in the Museum.
The Reading Room was used for special exhibitions from 2007 until 2013.
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National Library of Scotland, 57 George IV Bridge.
Designed by Reginald Fairlie in 1934-36, with construction commencing in 1937 and the building completed in 1958 (after work had been suspended during the Second World War). It is an imposing national library in a classical-Modern style with stylised bas-relief and sculptures by Hew Lorimer. Its two tall upper floors, accessed from George IV Bridge level, sit on top of seven bookstack floors below the bridge. Structurally the building has steel framework encased in concrete and reinforced concrete floors. The front and side elevations are clad in cream coloured Blaxter ashlar sandstone. The rear elevations are rendered brick with raised margins.
September 2017.
Visiting properties taking part in London Open House 2017.
The London Library, founded in 1841, is one of the world's largest independent lending libraries.