The Library in the Rijksmuseum, the Greatest Libraries - Part 6 and End.

For the last series of the week about the Greatest Libraries ( although I know there could be a lot more to cover) I am going to choose the Library in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.  

A very impressive  four-story library. I know the style is supposed to be gothic and renaissance but from this point, the design looks very industrial-like with the metals bars dividing the space and the opening of light in the middle. 

Books filling up the walls from top to bottom, like a tapestry of books, bringing warmth to the place.

The spiral staircase looks very cool.

The building in itself is amazing. The building is looking as nice in daylight as it is in night-time! For I have seen the picture in Wikipedia and it is just as impressive. But I like this picture better. It makes the place almost fairy-like.

The Museum was founded in 1800 in The Hague to exhibit the collections of the Dutch stadtholders.

Stadtholders in the Middle Ages were appointed by feudal lords to represent them in their absence. If a lord had several dominions (or, being a vassal, fiefs), some of these could be ruled by a permanent stadtholder, to whom was delegated the full authority of the lord. A stadtholder was thus more powerful than a mere governor, who had only limited authority but the stadtholder was not a vassal himself, having no title to the land.

In 1808 the museum moved to Amsterdam on the orders of king Louis Bonaparate, brother of Napoleon Bonaparte.

In 1863, there was a design contest for a new building for the Rijksmuseum, but none of the submissions was considered to be of sufficient quality. Pierre Cuypers also participated in the contest and his submission reached the second place.

In 1876 a new contest (only 13 years later, architects had to be patient) was held and this time Pierre Cuypers won. The design was a combination of gothic and renaissance elements. The construction began on October 1, 1876.