Hallowed Halls

Writer Jill Harness assembled pictures of different libraries from around the world, some of which she has visited herself. She collected 62 of what she says are the most beautiful and showed them off here at Mental Floss.

I kind of have to agree with her that Trinity College Library in Dublin, Ireland, tops the list. I could walk in there and probably forget to check out a book as I just wandered around the place and took it in.

On the other hand, I'd have to quibble with the inclusion of the Grand People's Study House in North Korea. For one, it was built to honor a birthday of one of the modern world's most evil men, the late North Korean dictator Kim Il-Sung. For another, although it has the capacity to house 30 million books, some tourists have estimated less than a few thousand are actually available. At first my suspicion was that the perennially starved North Korean populace ate them, but on the other hand, in a country where people were reportedly at risk of imprisonment for insufficient mourning when the last SOB dictator who ruled them died, an overdue or lost book fine might be quite dangerous to risk as well.