Yes, today in our world information technology is booming. No e-book, tablet or Ipad can be compared with a paper edition - they don’t have the same special, smell, or rustle of pages, they do not give pleasant tactile sensations (weight of a thick volume, roughness of the cover, smoothness of paper ...) .
Many booksellers understand the special significance of this purely psychological factor and try to make their store unique. Here is the most beautiful (and often the most unusual) bookstores on the planet.
List
- 10. The Last Bookstore - Los Angeles, United States
- 9. Livraria da Vila - Sao Paulo, Brazil
- 8. Shakespeare & Company - Paris, France
- 7. Popular Kids Republic - Beijing, Shanghai, etc., China
- 6. Atlantis Books - Santorini, Greece
- 5. Cafebreria El Pendulo - Mexico City, Mexico
- 4. Cook & Book - Brussels, Belgium
- 3. Boekhandel Selexyz Dominikanen (Polare) - Maastricht, Netherlands
- 2. El Ateneo Grand Splendid - Buenos Aires, Argentina
- 1. Livraria Lello - Porto, Portugal
10. The Last Bookstore - Los Angeles, United States
In 2005, the giant The Last Bookstore opened in Los Angeles, occupying the building of a closed bank. Its area is 2040 m²! From the bank there were huge halls with tall ceilings and classic columns and large heavy doors. And the rest: leather sofas and armchairs, designer tables and shelves, fancy lamps and strange sculptures, colored stucco mosaics on the ceiling (and all this is in the style of steampunk), as well as interesting installations and entire corridors with windows from books - these are already The Last Bookstore. Here you will find not only an excellent selection of various publications (up to 250 thousand!), But also souvenirs, gifts, CDs and DVDs, “vintage” vinyl records, etc. And then you can have a bite to eat in the cafe with live music.
9. Livraria da Vila - Sao Paulo, Brazil
Livraria da Vila opened in São Paulo in 2007. Outside, it is just a gray two-story building of a cubic shape. But instead of the prosaic entrance, he has huge revolving doors, on the inside of which are attached book shelves. It’s hard to pass by and not look inside. And there, inside, there is a huge open space, cozy areas with soft ottomans and sofas, and endless racks along the walls, on the floor and to the ceiling. The total area of the store is 790 m², the length of the shelves is 1280 m. The ground floor is reserved for children's literature and a lecture hall, and on the upper two tiers you will find a cafe, music section and main book departments. In 2009, the interior design of Livraria da Vila received the prestigious Red Hot Award.
8. Shakespeare & Company - Paris, France
Look for the legendary Shakespeare & Co bookstore in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, near Saint-Germain Boulevard. Once upon a time there was a monastery, then a wine shop, and now it's a bookstore. In 1919, the institution was founded by an American Sylvia Beach. It quickly became popular - Ernest Hemingway, Bernard Shaw, William Burroughs, Andre Gide, Gertrude Stein, James Joyce and other famous writers were often here. In 1940, after the Germans occupied Paris, the store closed. But in 1951 he was “founded” again by George Whitman (also an American), restoring the traditions of literary evenings introduced by his predecessor.
Until his death (in 2011), Whitman patronized young writers, allowing them not only to use books for free, but also to live on the top floor (provided that he work on his next literary opus for at least an hour a day). Now Shakespeare & Co is owned by Whitman's daughter Sylvia, who fully supports the rules set by her father.
This year, the store will be “a hundred years old”, but the very special atmosphere that attracts many “visitors” is still preserved here. Shakespeare & Co is simply packed full of books: they stand on shelves (up to the ceiling), lie on the floor, in baskets, in chests, on tables and stairs. And here, as in a bizarre labyrinth, it is full of “secret” niches, intricate corridors and “secret rooms” (and in them you can find rare copies of books that have not been published for a long time, as well as the latest novelties and bestsellers). Shakespeare & Co has a home aura. People stand, sit and lie everywhere, buried in books.
7. Popular Kids Republic - Beijing, Shanghai, etc., China
In 2005, the first store in the country opened in Beijing, specializing in a children's picture book called “Kids Republic.” Today it is a whole network of truly amazing stores that spans many cities in China. And in them you can buy not only Chinese, but also Japanese, American, European, etc. children's books.
What, besides, in fact, books, do these shops attract kids to themselves? Yes, the fact that their designers did their best to ensure that little dreamers directly from the doorway fell into a real fairy tale and categorically refused to leave.
So, for example, in Shanghai “Kids Republic” represents 2 floors of real miracles. On the first floor there is a “book forest” - bizarre colored shelves and shelves seem to “grow” from the floor, walls and ceiling, bend, create grottoes and secluded “minks”. A bright rainbow stretches across the room. Uneven floors and thick colorful rugs create a special “childish” cosiness. On the upper floor there is an unusual “woody” room of warm colors, the walls of which are decorated with saw cuts, branches and bark, under the ceiling you can climb “vines” and fall into a hammock, and images of leaves are projected onto the floor.
6. Atlantis Books - Santorini, Greece
Santorini is one of the most beautiful (and very romantic) places in the Mediterranean. And, as a company of friends (the British and Americans) once discovered, almost the only thing that was missing here for a long time was a bookstore. Then they converted the basement of one of the old (white and blue) houses into a beautiful and very unusual bookstore. Atlantis Books opened its doors in 2004. In its not too spacious bright halls, which are covered with books on the walls to the ceiling, and on a small open terrace (against the backdrop of the view of the beautiful blue Aegean Sea), reading books at sunset, literary festivals, film screenings and even dance evenings are regularly held.
5. Cafebreria El Pendulo - Mexico City, Mexico
“El Pendulo” is a great place where you can not only pick up a good book to your personal taste, but also enjoy the coolness in the shade of a green garden while drinking aromatic coffee. The design of this institution is something completely unrealistic: part of its bookshelves and shelves is located both in the picturesque courtyard, surrounded by a sea of green plants, and on spacious balconies with many beautiful fresh flowers - that is, not under the roof, but directly "Outdoors". There is also a small cafeteria, where there are poetry readings by local poets, live music concerts and performances by famous comedians.
4. Cook & Book - Brussels, Belgium
For many of us, our mother used to say in her childhood: “Don’t eat for food - it’s harmful!” Two creative Belgians, Deborah Drion and Cedric Legein, categorically disagree with this approach. In 2006, they opened a unique bookstore-restaurant, where 9 sections with a special thematic design fit on an area of 1,500 m². So, in the science fiction hall, eight hundred books “hover” under the black ceiling, the English literature department looks like a London pub, and the old Fiat 500 immediately “took root” in the cookery section. In general, the “Cook & Book” design is very whimsical, even slightly macabre, very, hmm ... unusual for bookstores.
Books are also everywhere in the restaurant-restaurant: they are on the tables, on the shelves, and they can be read while waiting for the order. The restaurant is a huge success both because of the excellent menu and because of the opportunity to read right at the meal. And in the warm season in the Cook & Book (right in the yard) they also show movies.
3. Boekhandel Selexyz Dominikanen (Polare) - Maastricht, Netherlands
One of the strangest bookstores in the world is, without a doubt, Selexyz Dominikanen (formerly Polare). The “trick” is that he “settled” in a church founded by the Dominicans in the 13th century. This church closed at the end of the 18th century, having stood idle for more than two centuries. At one time, even bicycles were stored in it (!). And so, in 2007-2008. its restoration-transformation into a bookstore happened. (But the "fleur" of the Dominican church was carefully preserved).
Multistory book shelves, stretching on both sides of the church hall, accommodate a huge number of publications, including old ones. And from the 3rd level, a view of the real frescoes of the 14th century opens. Particularly noteworthy is a cross-shaped reading table with round cafeteria tables located around it. Once there was a church altar.
Of course, some local residents and guests of Maastricht are categorically against the sale of anything in the religious building. But Selexyz Dominikanen is still very popular among book lovers. Not so long ago, when the cathedral store nearly went bankrupt, its loyal fans collected a good half of the required amount and helped the owners deal with the debts.
Another similar unique bookstore appeared in 2013 in another Dutch city - Zwolle. Waanders In de Broeren is open in a 15th century Gothic cathedral. Its beautiful light interior with interesting solutions is designed to minimize the risk of harm to the old building.
2. El Ateneo Grand Splendid - Buenos Aires, Argentina
The most unusual book in all of South America is the stunning and majestic “El Ateneo” on Avenida Santa Fe in Buenos Aires, housed in the Grand Splendid Theater (which, by the way, will be exactly 100 years old in 2019) and retaining all its splendor and luxury. Then they gave performances, sang and danced tango, and later - in the late 1920s. - showed the best new sound cinema. And in 2000, a book network bought a vacant building for a long time, creating a one-of-a-kind store in it that takes care of the spirit of that ancient theater: book racks were placed right on the ground floor and on 4 levels of lodges and balconies. The whole chic decor has remained untouched: gilding, stucco molding, Italian murals, carved stairs and giant paintings on the ceiling. The new owners retained, among other things, a system of lights and spotlights.
“El Ateneo” offers up to 120 thousand books (of course, there is also a cinema and music department), and the former orchestra pit turned into a mini-metro, delivering visitors to the lower floor with children's literature. Right on the former stage (with the front curtain of red velvet) there is a small cozy cafe.
The store is so popular that more than 1 million people visit it every year.
1. Livraria Lello - Porto, Portugal
Livraria Lello is one of the oldest bookstores in the world. And it was his British newspaper, The Guardian, who called the most beautiful of them. Millions of people annually coming to Porto come to Lello, not for books, but simply to personally see its beautiful interiors.
It all started back in 1894, when the editor and publisher of books, Jose Pinto Lello, decided to build a building to open his own bookstore there. In 1906, this unusual institution in the Art Nouveau style with neo-Gothic elements (almost in the center of Porto) finally opened the doors for visitors.
Its interior is amazing: wooden carved ceilings, multi-colored stained-glass roof, luxuriously decorated walls, a magnificent curved staircase with scarlet steps leading upstairs, wooden figures of literary characters, bookcases with glass doors ... On the second floor there is a coffee shop with 4 tables (with a great view in the vicinity) serving delicious coffee. And here they sell cigars (!), - this is just rarely seen in a bookstore.
By the way, this chic store (quite officially!) Is a national monument of Portugal. But the descendants of Jose Lello, who run it now, believe that he should still meet visitors, and not be a boring museum.
They say that “Livraria Lello” became the prototype of the famous Hogwarts library for Joan Rowling, a writer who presented us with an excellent series of books about the “boy with a scar” Harry Potter. In the early 1990s, Joan taught English in Porto (just in this area) and often went to Lello to look through books and drink coffee.