Hi guys!
If you don’t know this about me already, I absolutely love books and reading
and when I’m travelling I love to visit bookstores and libraries.
So when I heard that there was a ‘mega library’ in Mexico City
I knew this was a place that I had to visit.
It’s Biblioteca Vasconcelos.
I didn’t really know what to expect but when I walked in I literally let out a gasp.
I said, ‘Oh my god!’ and just went ‘ahhh’ because it was so overwhelming.
This place is unlike anywhere I’ve ever seen, not just any library but any place I’ve really ever seen.
The architecture is incredibly unique and the further inside I went the more incredible it became.
After that first initial ‘wow’ impression the first thing that you notice when you walk in
is just the sheer scale and size of this place.
It’s absolutely enormous.
It’s spread out over 38,000 square metres which is around 409,000 square feet.
You’re just overwhelmed by the size and all of the floors going up above you.
You see people walking around, beside you, above you, beneath you.
It’s gargantuan.
They half over half a million books and it got its name Biblioteca Vasconcelos
after José Vasconcelos who’s a Mexican philosopher.
He was a former presidential candidate and he was also the president
of the National Library of Mexico.
The library took three consecutive years to build.
It was designed by an architect named Alberto Kalach and it opened in 2007.
You’ll notice that the walls are transparent.
There are mismatched floors throughout and a very intricate series of staircases and balconies
that reminded me of an MC Escher drawing or the movie Inception
where things are folding onto each other or just something set in a sci-fi novel.
It just gives you this feeling of being set in the future which not many buildings do.
It’s called a ‘mega library’ not just because of its massive size
but because it’s actually five libraries melded into one and each one is dedicated
to one of Mexico’s great thinkers.
The concept for each of those five libraries was developed by a different design team
and they were asked to pay homage to the different materials specific to each section.
Something that really takes centre stage within the library and that you cannot miss
is a massive white whale skeleton covered in graphite rings
by an artist named Gabriel Orozco.
The whale hangs suspended in mid-air and it’s visible from almost every point within the library
and it really holds the enormous space.
The library also has a lot of great community programming.
They teach free courses and workshops.
They offer free wifi.
There are many different places where you can sit and work.
Beautiful balconies with wonderful views of the city that I wouldn’t leave without seeing.
And when we arrived there was actually a symphony set up beneath the whale in the middle of the library.
They’d just finished giving a free concert.
So when you go you might be lucky to find something like that as well.
When we were there, we also noticed that there were a ton of different groups
that were practicing their dance choreography.
I don’t really know why except that maybe the glass is reflective so it’s a good place to practice,
but it just added to that feeling of community and a gathering place
which made me love it even more.
If you’re a book lover like me or you love to see great architecture
or just want to see a really unique place within Mexico City
then Biblioteca Vasconcelos is definitely worth a visit.
I hope that you enjoyed this video seeing the library and, if you haven’t already,
please subscribe to my channel for more travel videos and I’ll see you in my next one.