Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
DON'T MISS
Charles Baudelaire's grave
Samuel Beckett's grave
Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir's graves
Serge Gainsbourg's grave
PRACTICALITIES
bd Edgar Quinet & rue Froidevaux, 14e
8am-6pm Mon-Fri, 8.30am-6pm Sat, 9am-6pm Sun
Edgar Quinet or Raspail
Place d'Italie & Chinatown
NATIONAL LIBRARY
BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE DE FRANCE
tions adult/child from €9/free;
exhibitions 10am-7pm Tue-Sat, 1-7pm Sun, closed early-late Sep;
Bibliothèque)
With four glass towers shaped like half-open books, the 1995-opened National Library of
France was one of President Mitterand's most ambitious and costliest
grands projets
. Some
12 million tomes are stored on 420km of shelves and the library can accommodate 2000
readers and 2000 researchers. Excellent temporary exhibitions (entrance E) revolve around
'the word' - from storytelling to bookbinding and French heroes. Exhibition admission in-
cludes free same-day access to the reference library.
No expense was spared to carry out the library's grand design, which many claimed de-
fied logic. Books and historical documents are shelved in the sunny, 23-storey and 79m-high
