A view of two of the four towers of the the new Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. Each tower is designed to look like an open book. Collections and administration are in the towers. Reading rooms are below at the garden level.
The entrance to the reading rooms are at the lower level. Access is provided by moving ramps
Philippe and Eunice (in distance) look over one of many reading rooms for reseachers in the library
The reading room for the Social Sciences was full on the afternoon we visited
A book caddy to carry books from the stacks to the users
The caddies are delivered on tracks to separate reading stations where users pick up the books they request
You get a sense of the distance in the Library from this view of the tracks beneath the reading rooms that is used to deliver the books. At this point we are below the level of the Seine River which is next to the library
The garden in the center of the library that provides light and a sense of nature to the workers and users. It is said a cat lives in this garden that is not accessible to the public. But it is a very elusive cat since few people have seen it.
A view from the top of one of the towers of the arena across the Seine river from the library
The other direction is the view of Montparnasse on the left, the Eiffel Tower in the center, the Pantheon on the right on the horizon.
A closer view of the Eiffel Tower and the Pantheon with a glimmer of light off the dome of Napoleon's Tomb between the two.
Eunice and Philippe looking at Paris from the top of one of the Towers of the BNB
A view of the new foot bridge across the Seine below the library
A view down the Seine from the library
In the distance Montmartre can be seen from the top of the library
This view shows the boardwalk covering the reading rooms and the garden in the middle of the four towers
Phillip showing Terry his office in the Bibliotheque Nationale
Philippe is the Quality Control librarian for the cataloging of serials deposited in the national library as part of the legal copyright deposit.
Terry walking one of the halls underground connecting the four towers. Reading rooms are to the left of the hall.
Eunice at the reception area of one of the four towers
Philippe and Terry at Vincenzo Coronelli's Globe which is on display in the BNB
Terry above the library garden
Eunice leaving the BNB on the moving ramp to the boardwalk level.
Another view of two of the towers and the garden with the reading rooms on the four sides of the garden.
We were not successful in seeing the "library" cat that is said to live in the garden. But the librarians put out food each day.
We leave the BNB from the boardwalk level
