Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève

The cast-iron arches of the reading room at the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève leave the masonry walls entirely free of weight. Architect Henri Labrouste completed this structure in eighteen fifty-one, using iron as a visible structural element rather than hiding it behind stone. When the library first opened, workers found a small, handwritten note tucked inside the iron framework by one of the builders. It contained a list of all the men who worked on the project, immortalizing their labor within the bones of the building.