Sneak Peeks

Here are some stealth photos of the various libraries of the BnF, starting with the room in which I spent the most time this year, the salle de lecture (reading room) at the Département de la Musique:

Notice the solid 1960s construction. Lots of wood paneling, lots of right angles, lots of natural light (thanks to the ceiling, which is one big skylight), and absolutely no sound-proofing (although you can't see that in this picture). All in all, not a bad place to work, even if the wood does get a bit oppressive after a few hours of reading.

The Salle Ovale of the Richelieu complex serves as the reading room for the Institut National de l'Histoire d'Art-collections Jacques Doucet; as a reference room shared among the various departments housed at Richelieu; and as a microfilm reading room during construction on the Départements des Arts du Spectacle and des Manuscrits. What a mouthful. What a room!

Don't be fooled: the only open stacks here are on the ground floor. Everything along the sides is accessible exclusively by the staff.

Sorry for the terrible photography, but I felt super self-conscious taking these pictures. The room, though humongous, is deathly quiet, and the "click" of my camera shutter was by far the loudest sound around. On the other hand, it's not like there's a lot of beauty for a picture to impart - this reading room screams "monumental," "overwhelming," and "architectural masterpiece." The only thing that really aligns with the normal 19th-century interest in ornamentation is the list of international cities circling the central skylight, which unfortunately didn't come out in what you see above. Guess you'll have to go check it out for yourself.

Finally, here's the salle de lecture at the Bibliothèque-musée de l'opéra:

This room makes the Salle Ovale look like a total dump - and the difference is even starker when the windows aren't shuttered by plywood due to the renovation work being done on the west side of the Opéra. (You can see the plywood blocking a window behind the second chandelier above, or behind the only chandelier appearing in the picture below.)

Accordingly to a plaque on the wall of this reading room, the space originally hosted the offices of Charles Garnier (the architect for whom the Opéra is named). It's a pretty grandiose venue for plain old research, but I'm not complaining. Except I will complain (briefly) about the ridiculous levels of noise caused by the same construction that forced the windows to be covered after debris and lots of dust poured into the reading room. (I tried to record the sound, which was a cross between a buzz saw and a swarm of locusts, but my netbook's microphone records at really low quality. Sorry about that.)

For a few other sneak peaks, checking out my posts on the salles de lecture at the Arts du Spectacle department of the BnF and at the Archives Nationales. Danger! Mystery! Secrets revealed! RESEARCH!