Libraries: Candida Hfer

About this book

This striking book shows the worlds most beautiful libraries through Candida Hfers mesmerizing photographs. No one photographs spaces quite like Candida Hfer and no one has captured better the majesty stillness and eloquence of libraries. Traveling around the world Hfer shows the exquisite beauty to be found in order repetition and form--rows of books lines of desks soaring shelves and even stacks of paper create patterns that are both hypnotic and soothing. Photographed with a large-format camera and a small aperture these razor-sharp images of the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York the Escorial in Spain Villa Medici in Rome the Hamburg University library the Bibliotheque Nationale de France in Paris and the Museo Archeologico in Madrid to name a few communicate more than just the superb architecture. Glowing with subtle color and natural light Hfers photographs while devoid of people shimmer with life and remind us again and again that libraries are more than just repositories for books. Umberto Ecos essay about his own attachment to libraries is the perfect introduction to an otherwise wordless but sublimely reverent journey.