Françoise Miterrand Library

Françoise Miterrand Library (78)

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The main centre of the National Library of France is linked to the library known as the "Mitterrand site", a building opened in 1996.

What did the president of the Republic have to do with the library? He was, in fact, the very person who promoted the construction of a new building to manage the bibliographic archives and ensure the general public has access to them. Mitterrand wanted, in his own words, a very big, completely new library, that will cover all the fields of knowledge, use the most modern data transmission technologies and be able to be consulted long-distance and connected to other large European libraries.

An ambitious idea that the architect Dominique Perrault was entrusted to build.

The François Mitterrand Library is a massive project that occupies an area greater than seven hectares. In each of its corners is an eighty-metre high tower with 23 floors, called the time, arts, numbers and laws towers. Each one symbolises open books.

The towers are used for offices and book storage.

Around the reading rooms a “woody courtyard” has been created with 140 pine trees that are 50 years old. The library contains around 12 million volumes in its 420 kilometres of shelving.

In this new building, as well as the reading and research rooms there are two exhibition rooms and two auditoriums for talks, conferences and concerts. In the west hall it is impossible to miss two massive globes of nearly 4 metres’ diameter and each weighing two tons, which represent the earth and the skies. They are the Coronelli globes, a Venetian monk who will be remembered in history for his representations of globes. And he built them as a gift for King Louis XIV.

If you get the chance, you really must have a wander around this temple of arts.

ALL POINTS OF INTEREST

INFORMATION

Haute Couture (1C)

Mysterious Paris (1E)

Printemps Store (1B)

History (2)

Play&Tour (0)

The Seine (3)

Introduction (1)

Coffee (1D)

Les Grands Boulevards (1A)

Metro Art-Noveau (36)

ESSENTIAL

Arc de Triomphe (18)

Church of The Madeleine (23)

Fontaine de l'Observatoire (43A)

Jardin du Luxembourg (43)

Les Invalides (55)

Odeon Theatre (45)

Passage des Panoramas (67B)

Place des Vosges (74)

Pont Neuf (8A)

Saint Germain des Prés (46)

Bastille Opera (73)

Conciergerie (35)

Grand Palais et Petit Palais (29)

La Défense (100)

Montmartre (60)

Opéra Garnier (25)

Passages Couverts (67)

Place du Tertre (63)

Quartier Latin (38)

Sainte Chapelle (5)

Bridges of Paris (8)

Dôme (56)

Hotel de Ville (31)

Le Marais District (86)

Notre-Dame - Art (4B)

Opéra Garnier - History (25A)

Place de la Bastille (71)

Place Vendôme (24)

Sacré-Coeur (62)

Champs Élysées (10)

Eiffel Tower (12)

Jardin des Tuileries (20)

Les Halles (27)

Notre-Dame - History (4A)

Pantheon (44)

Place de la Concorde (22)

Pont Alenxandre III (8B)

Sacré-Coeur - History (62A)

INTERESTING

Arènes de Lutece (75)

Belleville (88)

Champ de Mars (15)

Fontaine des Innocents (27B)

Île Saint Louis (7)

Jardins des Champs Elysées (11)

Le Défenseur du Temps (27C)

Metro Art-Noveau (36)

Moulin de la Galette (95)

Palais de l'Elysée (28)

Parc Monceau (82)

Place Pigalle (70)

Quai Voltaire (53)

Saint Severin (41)

The Seine (3)

Au Lapin Agile (64)

Bercy (81)

Cimetière du Montmartre (68)

Françoise Miterrand Library (78)

Institut du Monde Arabe (79)

Jardins du Trocadéro (14)

Les Catacombes de Paris (49)

Montparnasse Cemetery (48)

Moulin Rouge (69)

Palais du Luxembourg (42)

Passage Jouffroy (67A)

Place Saint-Sulpice (50A)

Rue des Rosiers (87)

Saint-Étienne du Mont (91)

Val-de-Grâce (92)

Auteil (94)

Cathedral Orthodox Saint Alexandre Nevsky (83)

Cimetière du Père-Lachaise (85)

Hotel de Lauzun (9)

Institut Pasteur (54)

La Ruche (93)

Maison de Radio-France (17)

Montparnasse Tower (47)

National Library (77)

Palais Royal (26)

Passages Verdeau (67C)

Pont de l'Alma (8C)

Saint Eustache (27A)

Saint-Pierre-de-Montmartre (66)

Villette Park (98)

Basilique Saint-Denis (97)

Chaillot (13)

Cour de Rohan (52)

Île de la Cité (6)

Jardin des Plantes (76)

La Sorbonne (51)

Marché aux Puces de St. Ouen (96)

Mosquée de Paris (80)

Palais de la Porte Dorée (84)

Palais-Bourbon. Assemblée-Nationale (30)

Passy (89)

Port de l'Arsenal (72)

Saint Julien le Pauvre (39)

Saint-Sulpice (50)

MUSEUM

Carnavalet Museum (34)

Musée de la Magie (90)

Musée d'Orsay - Art (59B)

Musée Picasso (33)

Victor Hug's House (58)

Georges Pompidou Centre (32)

Musée de l'Orangerie (21)

Musée d'Orsay - History (59A)

Museum of The Louvre - History (19A)

Halle Saint-Pierre - Musée d’Art Naïf Max Fourny (65)

Musée Delacroix (99)

Musée Montmartre (61)

Museum of The Louvre - Works (19B)

Maison de Balzac (16)

Musée des Arts et Métiers (37)

Musée National du Moyen Âge (40)

Rodin Museum (57)