The British Library

The building you are approaching is the British Library, the largest national library in the world by the sheer number of items cataloged. You are looking at a structure that contains over one hundred and seventy million items, a collection that spans from ancient clay tablets and medieval manuscripts to modern digital archives and internet snapshots. It stands on a site that once functioned as a vast railway goods yard, and the library itself is the largest public building constructed in the United Kingdom during the twentieth century. When it opened in the late nineties, its red-brick design and unconventional, ship-like profile drew intense public debate, yet it has since earned Grade One listed status for its significant architectural contribution to London.