Malala Yousafzai opens the Library of Birmingham today. The girl from Pakistan who was shot in the head by the Taliban and who said at the United Nations: “Let us pick up our books and pens. They are our most powerful weapons.”
Birmingham City Council has boldly built Europe’s largest public library at the heart of the city centre, at a cost of over £188 million, and public reaction suggests it could be a game changer for the city’s cultural identity.
The Library of Birmingham, Centenary Square
The larger premises has enabled many of the library’s most important artefacts and collections to be on public view for the first time.
The Elizabethan-style Shakespeare Room, reconstructed on the top floor of the new library, contains one of the world’s largest Shakespeare collections. This stunning room was carefully removed from the city’s original Victorian Library when it was destroyed in the 1960s. Visitors can even see what Shakespeare really looked like, as his death mask is on public view.
The Shakespeare Room, on the tenth floor, available for public hire
The Library of Birmingham is now the home to the National Film Archive and the BFI Mediatheque which provides access to the world’s greatest collection of film and television, including titles not seen since their first release.
Members of the Dutch architectural team, Mecanoo
The library was designed by Dutch architects, Mecanoo. The building has ten levels, spectacular gardens and roof terraces, panoramic views, an outdoor amphitheatre in the square, indoor theatre with seating for 300, children’s play spaces, and it is also interconnected with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.
Francine Houben, architect and founding partner, Mecanoo
The Library of Birmingham Development Trust, led by Keith Bradshaw, is a charitable body established to raise funds to complement the city council’s investment; trustees are drawn from community leaders who have a commitment to Birmingham’s cultural life.
Dame Christine Braddock, Library of Birmingham Trustee
Wild flower gardens attract birds and butterflies
From the opening today, 3rd September, to 31 December, the library will run a Discovery Season, with special events, dramas, storytelling, and poetry performances, bringing the stunning indoor and outdoor spaces alive.
The Discovery Season brings the library’s public spaces alive
A central rotunda lined with books defines the main space within the library
The Big Story of Pugin, produced by UDB and Transforming Cities, with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, will also be housed in the Library of Birmingham. www.pugin.org
