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Culture Critic

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 🇮🇪

2. Wiblingen Abbey Library, Ulm, Germany 🇩🇪

3. The Abbey Library of Saint Gall, St. Gallen, Switzerland 🇨🇭

4. The Vatican Apostolic Library, Vatican City 🇻🇦

5. New York Public Library, New York City, USA 🇺🇸

6. The Girolamini Library, Naples, Italy 🇮🇹

7. The National Library of Austria, Vienna, Austria 🇦🇹

8. The Library of Parliament, Ottawa, Canada 🇨🇦

9. Metten Abbey Library, Metten, Germany 🇩🇪

10. The Joanina Library, Coimbra, Portugal 🇵🇹

11. The Rijksmuseum Research Library, Amsterdam, the Netherlands 🇳🇱

12. The Palace of Mafra Library, Mafra, Portugal 🇵🇹

13. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York City, USA 🇺🇸

14. The Royal Library of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Madrid, Spain 🇪🇸

15. The Clementinum Library, Prague, Czech Republic 🇨🇿

16. The National Library of France, Paris, France 🇫🇷

17. The Marciana Library, Venice, Italy 🇮🇹

18. The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, Manchester, England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

19. Saint Florian Monastery Library, Sankt Florian, Austria 🇦🇹

20. The Municipal Law Library, Munich, Germany 🇩🇪

21. The Sainte-Geneviève Library, Paris, France 🇫🇷

22. The Strahov Monastery Library, Prague, Czech Republic 🇨🇿

23. The George Peabody Library, Baltimore, USA 🇺🇸

24. Admont Abbey Library, Admont, Austria 🇦🇹

25. The Royal Portuguese Cabinet of Reading, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 🇧🇷

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 🇵🇹

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Jun 27

What are the best-preserved wonders of Ancient Egypt besides the pyramids?

First, there's this 2,000-year-old temple — celestial carvings cover every inch of its ceiling.

And that's still the original paint... (thread) 🧵

The Temple of Hathor near Luxor is one of the most immaculate temples we have, built by Cleopatra's father (Ptolemy XII) around 54 BC.

Very little daylight reaches the paintwork inside, so its blue glow never faded...

Just up the Nile is the Temple of Khnum in Esna.

Full-color reliefs of the zodiac and constellations adorn every surface, preserved for millennia beneath layers of soot. It was scraped away a few years ago, revealing this...

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Jun 25

Many of Europe's greatest architectural wonders were lost to history — or willingly demolished.

Here are some you haven't heard of... 🧵

1. Neue Elbbrücke Bridge: torn down to add an additional lane

Hamburg's greatest bridge was destroyed not by aerial bombs, but by urban planning zealots.

The original, completed in 1887, had two beautiful neo-Gothic gateways — destroyed in 1959 to widen the bridge.

2. Pont Notre-Dame, Paris

Medieval Paris had bustling "living bridges", with shops and homes towered 4 or 5 stories high.

The Pont Notre-Dame's buildings were razed for sanitary reasons, and to avoid risk of collapse in the 18th century.

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Jun 24

500 years ago, a city of skyscrapers was built in the desert — and it's still standing today.

Known as the "Manhattan of the Desert", it's even more densely populated than New York.

And it's a model for urban planning... (thread) 🧵

There is no older vertical metropolis in the world than Shibam, Yemen. Its "skyscrapers" were built in the 16th century and endure to this day...

When a British explorer came upon it in 1930s, he christened it the "Manhattan of the Desert".

7,000 people live inside 0.3 square miles — on a par with the modern world's most dense metropolises.

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Jun 21

What did Jesus of Nazareth look like?

The 6th century Christ Pantocrator is the most recognized image of Jesus — but what about before then?

Well, that's where things get weird... (thread) 🧵

There are no physical descriptions of Christ in the Gospels. The first Christians were wary of idolatry and wanted to focus on his words and teachings.

But what do the earliest artistic depictions show us?

This is the Christ Pantocrator, a Byzantine icon kept in a small Mount Sinai monastery since the 6th century.

Its style (right hand raised, Bible in the left) became repeated around the world, and established his conventional appearance: bearded and long-haired.

Read 20 tweets

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Jun 19

Why do American cities feel less "alive" than their European counterparts?

It's because of something called the "missing middle".

A century ago, American cities looked completely different... (thread) 🧵

Millions make pilgrimages to Europe's centers every year. Architectural beauty is one thing, but they simply feel more vibrant and "alive" than American cities.

But why is that?

In the early 20th century, American cities were much like European ones. They had smaller footprints relative to population, and people lived centrally enough to walk or take elegant streetcars to work.

What happened? The "missing middle" was decimated...

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Jun 18

You might recognize this as a movie set — it's actually a real place near Paris.

In the 1970s, one man had enough of modern architecture and did something radical.

He went back to Ancient Greece for inspiration... (thread) 🧵

It's called Les Espaces d'Abraxas, and it's unlike anything you've seen before.

It's a housing project built in the 1980s as a backlash against the dreary modernist blocks of the day...

After WW2, cheap, rectangular housing blocks addressed the need to build rapidly across Europe.

Modernism was the dominant style and most new Parisian suburbs were like this: tower blocks built with seemingly little regard for what it's like to live in them.

Read 16 tweets

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