Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) | Richelieu

The Richelieu site of the Bibliothèque nationale de France occupies a massive block defined by its austere, long stone facade along the Rue de Richelieu. This complex served as the royal palace for Cardinal Mazarin in the seventeenth century before it became the heart of France’s national library system. In eighteen seventy-five, architect Henri Labrouste completed a reading room here with a soaring glass-domed ceiling supported by thin iron columns, a design that allowed natural light to flood the scholars’ tables below.