Bibliothèque nationale de France, Richelieu

Bibliothèque nationale de France, Richelieu stands in Paris as a historic library, museum and architectural landmark. Its rooms grew from the Palais Mazarin, assembled around the Hôtel Tubeuf in the seventeenth century. Brick and stone give the Hôtel Tubeuf a distinctly French early-modern character. Cardinal Mazarin expanded the building before it became the Bibliothèque du Roi. The restored interiors now bring together historic architecture and collections open to cultural discovery.

Displays include coins, medals, antiques, prints, photographs, maps and plans from across centuries. Victor Hugo’s original manuscript of Notre-Dame de Paris offers a vivid literary highlight. Mozart’s manuscript score of Don Giovanni and prints by Rembrandt and Picasso deepen the artistic range. The Salle Ovale draws the eye with its grand ceiling, ornate mosaics and shelves of international comics. Its collections connect four thousand five hundred years of human history, while the surrounding rooms retain the atmosphere of a working centre for knowledge.