After more than 30 years of delay, the Barcelona’s town hall has given the green light to the works to build the State Public Library in the Catalan capital, a project that has experienced several postponements since 1989 and even location changes and that will now become a reality.
The approval of the license will allow the Ministry of Culture to begin the necessary procedures to put out to tender the construction work of the new library, to which it will allocate an estimated investment of around 80 million euros.
Thus, reading lovers, students and, ultimately, all Barcelonans will be able to enjoy this new library in the city that will be one of the largest in Spain and Europe.
Where will it be located
The State Public Library in Barcelona, ​​a project by architect Josep Maria Miró (from Nitidus Arquitectes), will be built on the land donated by the council next to the France Stationin an area that is part of the Ciutadella Master Plan.
How many square meters and rooms will it have?
The super library will have a total constructed area of 18,000 m2 (16,300 useful m2), triple the average size of existing state libraries, and will have the capacity to accommodate about 660,000 volumes, making it the largest public library in Spain and one of the great public libraries in Europe. But that is not all.
The building will have the usual sections of any library, such as reading rooms, information rooms and an access area to the general and specialized collection, a children’s and youth collection and a daily press room, but Thats not all.
And it will also have two auditoriums, an exhibition hall, thematic spaces, multipurpose rooms for the different intended uses, self-loan machines, a rest area, a cafe-bookstore and parking area.
When will it open its doors
For the moment, Barcelona City Council has approved the building permit to build the equipment. This will allow the Ministry of Culture to begin the necessary procedures to put out to tender the construction work. However still There is no date for the start of the works or for its inauguration.
The Catalan capital is one of the few Spanish provincial capitals, along with Navarre, Vizcaya and Guipúzcoa (in the Basque Country)which does not have a State Public Library.
