We may now enter this vast edifice and study its interior arrangement. Crossing the court of honor (Figure 11), we reach a vestibule which leads to the great Salle de travail of the Departement des Imprimes. This, the reading-room for students, furnishes accommodation for nearly four hundred readers (Figure 12). It is divided into nine bays by sixteen cast-iron columns supporting spherical cupolas, the successful disposition of which marks a distinct advance in the art of architecture. Iron is employed both as a constructive and a decorative element. However, it is not the sole material used in the main construction ; the side walls are of stone, and impart a grand architectural effect to the ensemble.
The light is admitted through three large semicircular arches in the entrance wall, through an oculus in each cupola and through the glass roof of the hemicycle.
The six side arches are filled with presses disposed in three stories. The bindings of the eighty thousand
volumes which they contain add their varied colors to the decorative tones of the architecture (Figure 13). Above the presses, the tympanums of the arches are embellished with grand landscape motives from the brush of M. Desgoffes. At the springing of the transverse ribs, medallions of celebrated men decorate the walls. The door at the rear of the hemicycle is adorned with two caryatides; it gives access to the vast central magasin of the Departement des Imprimes, which contains nearly one million volumes, systematically arranged in presses of five stories.
The ground-floor of the building on the Rue de Richelieu and the rotunda, as well as the wing on the Rue des Petits- Champs, are annexes of the central magasin. All the upper stories, from the rotunda to the pavilion on the Rue Colbert, are likewise appended to it.
The Cabinet des Medailles occupies rooms in the first story of the building on the Rue de Richelieu, extending from the rotunda to the first pavilion of the building fronting on the Place Louvois.
The first story of this last edifice contains the reserve of the Departement des Manuscrits. It is here that the most valuable books, which are accessible only to a special public, are
kept. At right angles to this, on the Rue Colbert, and in the same story, there is, for the time being, a reading-room, which is open every day of the year to those persons who are not admitted to the Salle de travail of the Departement des Imprimes. The ground-floor of this building is used for periodical literature. The edifice at the rear of the court of honor contains, on the ground-floor, the offices connected with the administra
Fig. 14. National Library ; Central Vestibule.
Fig. 15. National Library; New Salle des Manuscrits.
tion. Access is had to these through a central vestibule in which M. Pascal has placed, after having had them restored with great care, the most interesting portions of the wainscoting of the old Cabinet des Medailles, the frieze-panels painted by Boucher, as well as the portraits of Louis XIV and Louis XV, which were likewise in the same apartment (Figure 14). The old gallery in the first story, belonging to the time of Louis
XV, has also been restored (Figure 15), and M. Pascal has put in furnishings in a style worthy of his genius; he has also added two stairways of great beauty to the old cases. This gallery is now the readi n g - r o o m of the Departement des Manuscrits.
In Mazarin hall, on the other side of the stairway, the rarest manuscripts and books of the collection are exhibited. The vaulted ceiling is divided into compartments decorated by Romanelli. Opposite the windows there are elliptical niches adorned with landscape motives by Grimaldi; they are occupied by figures of the benefactors of the library.
Beyond the Mazarin gallery are the residence of the administrator, the apartments of various employes, a book-binding shop, a hall for archaeological lectures, the Departement des Cartes et la Geographic, photographic rooms—and other secondary services. This part of the old palace will also soon receive the Department des Estampes, now on the ground-floor of the Mazarin gallery.
We would call attention, in closing this sketch of the National Library, to the gardens on the Rue Vivienne and to
the grounds beyond s as far as the Rue Colbert, which, since 1882, have been reserved for the enlargement of the library.1
The circular hall of the British Museum offers a simple and convenient disposition. The librarians’ desks are in the very centre of the hall, so that all the books are at equal distances from the office of the employes charged with their distribution ; this is a most advantageous arrangement in view of the time required for the numerous handlings which the books undergo in a day.
M. Smithmeyer studied the time-savi n g question with great care in making his plan of the Congressional Library at Washington ; the result is that the four large rooms from which the reading-room is fed are stationed on two diameters, at equal distances from the centre.
The arrangement of the furnishings of the circular hall may,
1 The architects of the library are as follows : Robert de Cotte, father and son, eighteenth century. — Bellissen, 1796. — Bellanger, 1791, 1821. — Delaunoy, 1811,1823. — Visconti, 1824,1854. — H. Labrouste, 1854,1875. — L. Rascal, 1875.
The light is admitted through three large semicircular arches in the entrance wall, through an oculus in each cupola and through the glass roof of the hemicycle.
The six side arches are filled with presses disposed in three stories. The bindings of the eighty thousand
volumes which they contain add their varied colors to the decorative tones of the architecture (Figure 13). Above the presses, the tympanums of the arches are embellished with grand landscape motives from the brush of M. Desgoffes. At the springing of the transverse ribs, medallions of celebrated men decorate the walls. The door at the rear of the hemicycle is adorned with two caryatides; it gives access to the vast central magasin of the Departement des Imprimes, which contains nearly one million volumes, systematically arranged in presses of five stories.
The ground-floor of the building on the Rue de Richelieu and the rotunda, as well as the wing on the Rue des Petits- Champs, are annexes of the central magasin. All the upper stories, from the rotunda to the pavilion on the Rue Colbert, are likewise appended to it.
The Cabinet des Medailles occupies rooms in the first story of the building on the Rue de Richelieu, extending from the rotunda to the first pavilion of the building fronting on the Place Louvois.
The first story of this last edifice contains the reserve of the Departement des Manuscrits. It is here that the most valuable books, which are accessible only to a special public, are
kept. At right angles to this, on the Rue Colbert, and in the same story, there is, for the time being, a reading-room, which is open every day of the year to those persons who are not admitted to the Salle de travail of the Departement des Imprimes. The ground-floor of this building is used for periodical literature. The edifice at the rear of the court of honor contains, on the ground-floor, the offices connected with the administra
Fig. 14. National Library ; Central Vestibule.
Fig. 15. National Library; New Salle des Manuscrits.
tion. Access is had to these through a central vestibule in which M. Pascal has placed, after having had them restored with great care, the most interesting portions of the wainscoting of the old Cabinet des Medailles, the frieze-panels painted by Boucher, as well as the portraits of Louis XIV and Louis XV, which were likewise in the same apartment (Figure 14). The old gallery in the first story, belonging to the time of Louis
XV, has also been restored (Figure 15), and M. Pascal has put in furnishings in a style worthy of his genius; he has also added two stairways of great beauty to the old cases. This gallery is now the readi n g - r o o m of the Departement des Manuscrits.
In Mazarin hall, on the other side of the stairway, the rarest manuscripts and books of the collection are exhibited. The vaulted ceiling is divided into compartments decorated by Romanelli. Opposite the windows there are elliptical niches adorned with landscape motives by Grimaldi; they are occupied by figures of the benefactors of the library.
Beyond the Mazarin gallery are the residence of the administrator, the apartments of various employes, a book-binding shop, a hall for archaeological lectures, the Departement des Cartes et la Geographic, photographic rooms—and other secondary services. This part of the old palace will also soon receive the Department des Estampes, now on the ground-floor of the Mazarin gallery.
We would call attention, in closing this sketch of the National Library, to the gardens on the Rue Vivienne and to
the grounds beyond s as far as the Rue Colbert, which, since 1882, have been reserved for the enlargement of the library.1
The circular hall of the British Museum offers a simple and convenient disposition. The librarians’ desks are in the very centre of the hall, so that all the books are at equal distances from the office of the employes charged with their distribution ; this is a most advantageous arrangement in view of the time required for the numerous handlings which the books undergo in a day.
M. Smithmeyer studied the time-savi n g question with great care in making his plan of the Congressional Library at Washington ; the result is that the four large rooms from which the reading-room is fed are stationed on two diameters, at equal distances from the centre.
The arrangement of the furnishings of the circular hall may,
1 The architects of the library are as follows : Robert de Cotte, father and son, eighteenth century. — Bellissen, 1796. — Bellanger, 1791, 1821. — Delaunoy, 1811,1823. — Visconti, 1824,1854. — H. Labrouste, 1854,1875. — L. Rascal, 1875.