Manchester central library was closed for a long time, due to refurbishment and building work. I have never managed to visit the central library, so what it looked like before is a mystery to me. However, what they have now is beautiful. There's four floors in a spectacular domed building.
The entrance, complete with a friendly security guy outside who smiled very nicely at me :)
I decided to work from the bottom and work my way up. Lower Ground Floor first:
As you can tell from the edge of the picture, it looked like work hadn't quite been finished on this floor. Some sections were blocked off by the green plastic sheeting you can see on the right. But on the whole this floor was the only place I saw that was still having any work done. I had a small wander around the children's section first, and what struck me first was the beautiful wall art.
Autumn
Cute birds!
The simple, flowing designs were different to many other children's areas I've seen, where garish colours and bright, bold designs are often the norm. This was refreshingly different. It didn't come without the usual awesome children's furniture:
Why can't adults have this? The temptation to make a den was overwhelming.
One of the greatest things the children's section had was this:
This was a live image projected onto the floor of a lake reflecting trees. When you stepped anywhere onto the circle, the image rippled and made splashy noises, just as if you'd stepped into a real puddle! It was amazing! I did take a video, so maybe I'll upload that at some point so you can see. I have no idea how it works. I suspect magic.
So after playing in the fake lake, I had a quick browse of the section intended for my age group:
Endless shelves of lovely books...
Poe anyone?
There were these great information points scattered all around the library.
The Pankhurst Sisters. Sylvia actually studied at MMU herself, so wiki says.
The music library was stunning. I cannot wait to come and borrow some music from here, as I recently found out I have passed my Grade 8 violin exam!
Light and airy.
There were a couple of silent pianos tucked away in one of the nooks to the left, so you could practise to your hearts content. The archives were equally impressive, with lots of interactive displays and a film archive.
The booths were great. You could search a database of local TV/Film archive material, settle yourself down in a chair and watch away. Open access at its best!
Next to the archive was a very important part of the library. I firmly believe every library should have one. It should be law.
Cakes, tea and sandwiches/salads galore. Delish.
But the crowning jewel for me personally was the reading room. This looked like it hadn't been modernized at all by the recent works and could easily seat about 300 people. It's in the centre, with the large domed roof circled with a quote from the Old Testament.
I wish my pictures could do it justice but they just don't!
The silence in here was gorgeous.
So here I took some time out to read my current book (The Bell Jar) and immersed myself in the peace. Please do look on their website for better pictures because I cannot get across how beautiful this room was. I would happily go there everyday. I'll leave you with one last picture of a stained window. The library has been amazingly modernized and renovated, however beautiful old features like this still exist.
Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the famous Shakespeare window. But this one was nice too.
Have a look on their website here. There's a great section called reborn, where you can look at pictures and videos of the transformation. It's within walking distance of Piccadilly station and is open 9am-8pm Mon-Thurs and 9am-5pm Friday and Saturday. It is closed on Sundays. There's still some works going on around the outside of the building, but don't let that put you off. Go and investigate.
This has been a very long post. So for now, I'm off.
Over and out.
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