The Argentine writer said Jorge Luis Borges that if paradise existed it would be a library. Surely he would be ecstatic to read the almost 300 pages of Gestalten's new book, temple of books , a book that demonstrates how reading can change the world.
Architecture, history and a social mission guide the pages of the book of Marianne Julia Strauss (before 'Do you read me?') where they tell us about private and public collections, national libraries or monasteries, as well as buildings protected by UNESCO, from Mexico to Vietnam. "In the United States alone we find 120,000 libraries, 70% of them have been created to inspire new generations," she points out in the introduction.
The history of libraries dates back to ancient Mesopotamia , the first one was Alexandria . 5,000 years ago this place was the meeting point of the world's science and wisdom, and unfortunately, what man built also destroyed it. Today we can only recognize it in its ruins, due to the fire that devastated it in the time of Emperor Julius Caesar (the story says that accidentally).
There are examples of libraries in this book that will remain in the annals of history, such as the Strahov Monastery Library in Prague , a temple or cabinet of curiosities dedicated to theology and philosophy.
A BOOK DEDICATED TO UNCONVENTIONAL LIBRARIES
The journalist Marianne Julia Strauss has a predilection for reading, as she demonstrated in her first book ‘Do you read me?’, dedicated to the most beautiful book stores in the world. She tells Traveler.es that everything has been part of a natural process, since she grew up on the rainy border between Germany and the Netherlands, so she had a childhood surrounded by books . Working as a travel journalist, she focused on libraries and bookstores. Obviously, she wasn't interested in libraries either...
“For example, there is the incredible private library of an American businessman who turned his collection into a sensational chamber of curiosities, or the beautiful and successful library project that an idealistic mayor built in the worst part of his city. for children to read instead of hang out with criminals . There is a national library that looks like a brutalist concrete bubble bath and a library where bats fly at night! But the book also recounts the origins of the library culture , showcasing amazing ancient royal and monastic libraries from India to Austria”, she explains to Traveler.es.
See pictures: The world's most amazing modern libraries
Libraries with a social mission.
Of course, among all of them he has favorites and those that he would recommend to travel lovers… “One of my favorite libraries in a Spanish-speaking country is the Vasconcelos Library in Mexico City . An impressive steel skeleton full of books in a beautiful botanical garden! In Rio de Janeiro I also absolutely recommend the Royal Portuguese Cabinet of Leitura , an incredible neo-Manueline style library. But you have to be careful, it is so beautiful that you will probably cry.”
What if we had to get lost in one of them for a single day? Marianne is clear, it would be in the Jesuit library of the abbey of Maria Laach, Germany. A temple full of labyrinthine corridors full of books.
But her favorite, among all those in the book, is the library of the monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai , declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, given its almost 2,000 years of history. "It has a valuable collection - some of its manuscripts belong to the early part of Christianity, its location in the Sinai desert, its ambition and openness to digitization - this library is full of treasures and ready to share them with the world . I haven't been there in person yet and I can't wait to see it with my own eyes."
'Temples of Books'.
Libraries are a true reflection of each country, although we might be surprised. In fact, we will when we open 'Temple of books', where nothing is what it seems.
“One of the most repressed countries I have been to is Qatar -I was in 2018-. The good news is that its new national library can be interpreted as a sign of a more progressive educational policy. In China things seem different, I was last there in 2006, so my personal experience is a bit outdated, but the choice of books in libraries obviously still only reflects a state that wants to shape ideas. From the perspective of freedom of opinion, the best quality libraries are usually in countries with free access to all the books they want”.
His favorite example is The Uncensored Library , a project started by Reporters Without Borders . “It is an online library inspired by the game minecraft t, where anyone in the world with the internet has access. The team publishes banned texts and critical reports from journalists around the world. This is a perfect example of how today's libraries have the power to change the world."
Temple of books, Gestalt.
in Gestalt