Page:Library Construction, Architecture, Fittings, and Furniture.djvu/317

CHAPTER XIII

EUROPEAN LIBRARIES: BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALS ET SAINTE GENEVIÈVE (PARIS), THE STATE LIBRARY (FRANKFURT), UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES AT HALLE AND LEIPZIG, IMPERIAL LIBRARY (STRASSBURG), WOLFENBÜTTEL, VALLIANO LIBRARY (ATHENS)

The French National Library is contained in a congerie of buildings at the corner of the Rue de Richelieu and the Rue Neuve des Petits Champs. Part of the edifice was built by Cardinal Mazarin; but so many alterations have been made since, that but little is left of the ancient erections.

The main entrance is in the Rue de Richelieu, and leads to an inner open court, called the "Cour d'Honneur." On the right of the court is a vestibule, which gives access to the large reading-room, named the "Salle de Travail" (Figs. 131 and 132), which was built by M. Labrouste, the architect of the Bibliotheque St. Genevicve. It is a fine room, 43 metres^[1] in length, 34 in breadth, and 200 metres high, accommodating 344 readers, who are seated at flat-topped tables, a space 1 metre in breadth, about two-thirds of that allotted at the British Museum, being allowed to each person. The north

1. A French metre is almost exactly 3 English feet 3 inches.

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