Bibliothèque François-Mitterrand

The four glass towers that rise above you were designed by architect Dominique Perrault to resemble four open books placed at the corners of a massive, rectangular esplanade. Each tower is named after a concept—Time, Laws, Numbers, and Letters—and they stand seventy-nine meters high, guarding the vast collections housed deep within the structure. The design uses these towers to frame a sunken, forested garden at the center of the complex, which serves as a quiet, private sanctuary visible from the reading rooms below ground.