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Oct 5, 2023 28 tweets 7 min read Read on X
Libraries are supposed to be magnificent temples of learning.

These are the 25 most beautiful examples on Earth 🧵

1. Trinity College Library, Dublin, Ireland 🇮🇪 Image
2. Wiblingen Abbey Library, Ulm, Germany 🇩🇪 Image
3. The Abbey Library of Saint Gall, St. Gallen, Switzerland 🇨🇭 Image
4. The Vatican Apostolic Library, Vatican City 🇻🇦 Image
5. New York Public Library, New York City, USA 🇺🇸 Image
6. The Girolamini Library, Naples, Italy 🇮🇹 Image
7. The National Library of Austria, Vienna, Austria 🇦🇹 Image
8. The Library of Parliament, Ottawa, Canada 🇨🇦 Image
9. Metten Abbey Library, Metten, Germany 🇩🇪 Image
10. The Joanina Library, Coimbra, Portugal 🇵🇹 Image
11. The Rijksmuseum Research Library, Amsterdam, the Netherlands 🇳🇱 Image
12. The Palace of Mafra Library, Mafra, Portugal 🇵🇹 Image
13. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York City, USA 🇺🇸 Image
14. The Royal Library of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Madrid, Spain 🇪🇸 Image
15. The Clementinum Library, Prague, Czech Republic 🇨🇿 Image
16. The National Library of France, Paris, France 🇫🇷 Image
17. The Marciana Library, Venice, Italy 🇮🇹 Image
18. The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, Manchester, England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Image
19. Saint Florian Monastery Library, Sankt Florian, Austria 🇦🇹 Image
20. The Municipal Law Library, Munich, Germany 🇩🇪 Image
21. The Sainte-Geneviève Library, Paris, France 🇫🇷 Image
22. The Strahov Monastery Library, Prague, Czech Republic 🇨🇿 Image
23. The George Peabody Library, Baltimore, USA 🇺🇸 Image
24. Admont Abbey Library, Admont, Austria 🇦🇹 Image
25. The Royal Portuguese Cabinet of Reading, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 🇧🇷 Image
Sharing an updated list because the last one had some errors and some glaring omissions!
Any I’ve missed?
Bonus: Not a library but a bookstore:
26. The Livraria Lello & Irmão, Porto, Portugal 🇵🇹 Image

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More from @the_culturist_

May 20
X has the best educational content anywhere online.

What are your favorite accounts posting unique, informative, and beautiful content?

My top accounts that you MUST follow... 👇 Image
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• Great books of the West: @athenaeumbc
• Great books, scripture: @TheGreatB00ks
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History:

• Western history: @thinkingwest
• Western history, culture: @realAtlasPress
• Medieval: @MedievalScholar
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• Roman: @romanhelmetguy
• Roman: @JeremyRyanSlate Image
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May 13
This is how angels look according to the Bible.

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Oct 24, 2025
Few people know what happens *after* the events of The Lord of the Rings.

But it's one of the most poetic and thought-provoking endings in literature... 🧵 Image
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Aragorn rules the Reunited Kingdom for 120 years, followed by his son for another century. Image
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Knowledge is not the same thing as wisdom.

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Here is his warning about wisdom, and his secret to becoming truly wise… 🧵 Image
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Oct 20, 2025
Tom Bombadil is the most mysterious character in The Lord of the Rings.

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Bombadil is the key to the underlying ethics of the entire story, and to resisting evil yourself… 🧵 Image
Tom Bombadil is an enigmatic, merry hermit of the countryside, known as "oldest and fatherless" by the Elves. He is truly ancient, and claims he was "here before the river and the trees."

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This is understandable, since he's unimportant to the development of the plot.

Tolkien, however, saw fit to include him anyway, because Tom reveals a lot about the underlying ethics of Middle-earth, and how to shield yourself from evil. Image
Read 18 tweets

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