Libraries to visit Romania

Opposite the National Museum of Art, this superb 1895 building is the work of French architect Paul Gottereau. Built by King Carol ^I, it houses the city's oldest central university library. Seriously damaged during the 1989 revolution, the three-building structure was renovated. In 2010, an equestrian statue of Carol ^I was installed in front of the Foundation Palace, the original structure.

This unattractive building, constructed in the 2000s, houses a gigantic stained glass window, called The Creation of the World. Completed in May 2004 in Râmnicu Vâlcea by artist Gheorghe Dican, it covers an area of 142^m2, divided into seven concentric circles. To make it, 500 kg of lead and 2,000 kg of glass were used. The giant stained glass window now forms the central dome of the Vâlcea județ library. This superb achievement can be admired free of charge, during the library's opening hours.

This superb library was opened in 1802 by Count Sámuel Teleki (1739-1822), whose ambition was to collect and preserve all the knowledge published at the time and make it accessible to the public. Throughout his life, this bibliophile collected and purchased books in the twenty-five European cities he travelled to. It was one of the largest libraries on the continent, with its 40,000 books. Today it has more than 200,000 volumes, including a 14th-century Codex and some 70 incunabula, books from the earliest days of printing.