With beautiful reading rooms and a massive literary collection, bibliophiles have no reason to skip the State Library Victoria when in Melbourne. (Image from depositphotos.)
Located on Swanston Street in the heart of Melbourne’s central business district, is the oldest public library in Australia, State Library Victoria.
And while many visit to peruse its extensive catalogue of books, most come to admire its stunning facade and Insta-worthy interiors.
Today, State Library Victoria is among the city’s most photographed buildings, attracting over two million visitors annually.
It’s one of the first public libraries in the world
Opened in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, it was one of the first free public libraries in the world.
The building was designed by eminent Australian architect Joseph Reed, who also worked on many of Melbourne’s notable structures, including the Melbourne Town Hall and Royal Exhibition Building.
Over the decades, more buildings were added to the structure, expanding the library and its offerings. Construction began in 1913 on the library’s octagonal dome, now the centrepiece of the building.
It has more than two million titles & beautiful reading rooms
The library—which opened with an impressive collection of 8,000 books—now houses more than two million titles, as well as rare manuscripts, maps, newspapers, and digital resources covering a wide range of interests and academic disciplines.
The library also offers reading rooms, dedicated quiet zones, storage lockers, free Wi-Fi, and F&B options.
The reading rooms are open to the public, the most popular being the La Trobe Reading Room where the dome sits. Also a crowd-puller is the Redmond Barry Reading Room, which features an array of contemporary books, magazines, and periodicals.
It plays an important role in cultural preservation
The library plays a key role in preserving the heritage of Victoria state for future generations, adding over 70,000 items of cultural and historical importance every year to its ever-growing collection.
One of its most valuable assets is the armour of Ned Kelly, an Australian outlaw who wore the bulletproof suit during shootouts with the police.
Some of the library’s well-known digitised works include The Port Phillip Papers, which are important records of early European settlement in Victoria, as well as the World War I Unit Histories containing descriptions of battles and operations taken from the diaries and letters of servicemen.
Aside from being an educational hub, the library also has several public spaces for hosting exhibitions, lectures, and other events that promote art, literature, and history.
This story by Gregory Basil was originally published on AirAsia. Zafigo republished this story in full with permission from the publisher, simply because good stories should be read by as many people as possible! If you have stories that will be of interest and useful to women travellers, especially in Asia, please get in touch with us at [email protected].
