Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters

Take your next trip with Atlas Obscura!

Our small-group adventures are inspired by our Atlas of the world's most fascinating places, the stories behind them, and the people who bring them to life.

Visit Adventures
Trips Highlight
Central Asia yurt night stars
Uzbekistan • 15 days, 14 nights
Central Asia Road Trip: Backroads & Bazaars
from
A view of Brașov’s Old Town.
Romania • 12 days, 11 nights
Legends of Romania: Castles, Ruins & Culinary Delights
from
View all trips
Top Destinations
Latest Places
Most Popular Places Random Place Lists Itineraries
Add a Place
Download the App
Top Destinations
View All Destinations »

Countries

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • Japan

Cities

  • Amsterdam
  • Barcelona
  • Beijing
  • Berlin
  • Boston
  • Budapest
  • Chicago
  • London
  • Los Angeles
  • Mexico City
  • Montreal
  • Moscow
  • New Orleans
  • New York City
  • Paris
  • Philadelphia
  • Rome
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Stockholm
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto
  • Vienna
  • Washington, D.C.
Latest Places
View All Places »
Side profile of the bomb prototype.
Petwood Hotel Bouncing Bomb
RAF Harrington
RAF Harrington
The Beaux-arts interior with Pool layout still visible.
Écomusée du fier monde
Village du Livre de Fontenoy-la-Joûte
Latest Places to Eat & Drink
View All Places to Eat »
Cacio e pepe lasagna combines two classics.
C'è pasta... E pasta!
Spaghetto taratatà is named for the sound of rattling sabers.
Giano Restaurant
The gnocchi here get blanketed in a sugo with braised oxtail.
Cesare al Pellegrino
Romans insist you should feel the cracked peppercorns and cheese grains on your tongue.
Flavio al Velavevodetto
Tripe is fried to a crisp.
L’Osteria della Trippa
Recent Stories
All Stories Video Podcast
Most Recent Stories
View All Stories »
Echo Park Time Travel Mart.
Atlas Obscura Presents: Traveling Back in Time for Coconut Cake With The Sporkful
about 23 hours ago
One of the PATH’s many entrances.
A Supposedly Boring Mall I Might Actually Visit Again
2 days ago
People paddling in their wooden canoes on one of the lakes near the Allagash Waterway in the north woods in Maine
The Allagash Abductions: This State Park’s Most Famous Visitors ... Are Aliens?
3 days ago
The rocky Revere Beach coast in Revere, Massachusetts, just outside Boston.
Which Places With Bad Raps Are Actually Worth Visiting?
4 days ago

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All France Paris Labrouste Reading Room

Labrouste Reading Room

This off-limits room in the National Library of France is home to a system of pneumatic tubes, once used to bring books to readers.

Paris, France

Added By
Dylan Thuras
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
The Reading Room as it appears today, pre-renovations   endymion120
The Reading Room as it appears today, pre-renovations   endymion120
Drawing of the Reading Room’s inauguration as published in Le Monde, 1868   H.Linton
A view of the Labrouste Reading Room from the days when it contained both books and people   ilustracionysigloxixugr
  Cmcf / Atlas Obscura User
  Cmcf / Atlas Obscura User
  Cmcf / Atlas Obscura User
  Cmcf / Atlas Obscura User
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

There's a reason history regards Pierre-François-Henri Labrouste so fondly: in addition to being among the most important architects of the 19th Century, the man was also a magician of sorts.

Even during his own lifetime, Labrouste was renowned for his ability to close the space between beauty and practicality — and nowhere is this more evident than in the reading room that bears his name, inside the Richelieu-Louvois annex of France's National Library. 

The library in which his reading room still sits was the second of two building projects that continue to garner the most acclaim for the architect (the Bibliothèque Ste.-Geneviève being the other). Constructed from 1859–75, Labrouste's neoclassical masterpiece debuted to much fanfare, both popular and critical.

Again and again, Labrouste returned to the use of iron in his work. Inspired by Parisian markets and railway stations, the Labrouste Reading Room is known for the 16, arboreal iron pillars propping up a series of pendentived terra cotta domes. Light filters down into the space by way of skylights, and makes the room's towering ceilings seem to reach even higher than its five stories. In typical Labrouste fashion, the architect found a way to harness the strength of one "ugly" substance in order to let other "pretty" materials soar — in spite of their weakness. His achievement is one whose combined power and delicacy continues to be cited in textbooks to this day. 

Yet perhaps the most fascinating element of Labrouste's design is invisible to the eye: a huge system of pneumatic tubes designed to bring books to and from readers. A glass partition separated readers from many of the stacks, containing a staggering quantity of information. At the time, visitors could witness the rapid distribution of documents from behind the glass wall, to patrons within the reading room. Though similar systems involving pneumatic tubes exist elsewhere, Labrouste made this space-age document delivery service a reality, decades before these other institutions, and his tubes have lasted to this day. 

Between 2010 and 2017, the Labrouste Reading Room has been closed due to a series of extensive renovations.  The overarching renovating plan involved modernizing and reorganizing the collection in a manner better fit for researchers, while enhancing preservation conditions of the texts contained therein. The library opened again for visitors in July 2017 and it is now a centre for education and national culture.

Related Tags

Libraries Architecture Pneumatic Tubes

Community Contributors

Added By

Dylan

Edited By

littlebrumble, Svitlana Orlynska, andradaboldis, Cmcf

  • littlebrumble
  • Svitlana Orlynska
  • andradaboldis
  • Cmcf

Published

April 6, 2016

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources
  • http://www.archdaily.com/317195/henri-labrouste-structure-brought-to-life
  • http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2013/05/07/gillian-darley/in-the-reading-room/
  • http://theculturetrip.com/europe/france/articles/henri-labrouste-the-architecture-of-functional-artistry/
  • http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/bibliotheque_nationale.html
  • http://www.architectmagazine.com/design/exhibits-books-etc/henri-labrouste-exhibit-at-the-museum-of-modern-art-reviewed_o
  • http://www.abitare.it/en/habitat-en/historical-heritage/2017/09/03/labrouste-biblioteca-parigi/
Labrouste Reading Room
58 Rue de Richelieu
5, rue Vivienne
Paris, 75002
France
48.867291, 2.338412
Visit Website
Get Directions

Nearby Places

The Heart of Voltaire

Paris, France

miles away

Bibliothèque nationale de France (National Library of France)

Paris, France

miles away

Le Chabanais

Paris, France

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Paris

Paris

France

Places 204
Stories 41

Nearby Places

The Heart of Voltaire

Paris, France

miles away

Bibliothèque nationale de France (National Library of France)

Paris, France

miles away

Le Chabanais

Paris, France

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Paris

Paris

France

Places 204
Stories 41

Related Places

  • Québec City, Québec

    Maison de la Littérature

    A former church transformed into a public library.

  • Interior.

    Rimini, Italy

    Biblioteca Civica Gambalunga

    The oldest civic library in Italy can trace its foundation back to 1619.

  • Bibliotheca Alexandrina

    Alexandria, Egypt

    Bibliotheca Alexandrina

    The lost library of Alexandria, revived as a spearhead of cultural preservation.

  • Birmingham Library

    Birmingham, England

    Library of Birmingham

    The largest public library in the United Kingdom was designed to reflect the industrial and artistic history of the city where it stands.

  • Wood Memorial Hall

    Newcastle upon Tyne, England

    Neville Hall

    This building played host to some of the most influential minds of the Industrial Revolution and now serves as a reminder of the influence of Northern coalfields.

  • Kadokawa Musashino Museum

    Tokorozawa, Japan

    Kadokawa Musashino Museum

    This airy five-floor library and museum houses thousands of books and rotating exhibits on Japanese monsters and anime.

  • Pune Nagar Vachan Mandir

    Pune, India

    Pune Nagar Vachan Mandir

    The oldest library in Pune.

  • Shepherdstown Public Library

    Shepherdstown, West Virginia

    Shepherdstown Public Library

    The "All-Seeing Eye of God" symbol on this library is a clue to one of the many former lives of this building.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.