The British Library

The British Library is quite an interesting place. They've got some of the Beatles' early song manuscripts on display next to Handel's Messiah, which is quite interesting. They also had an exhibit called "Sacred," which is a display of very early Jewish, Christian, and Muslim texts. I didn't have enough time to go to that one, but I may try to go back before I head home.

Here's the grand entryway. I quite like it.

This is my favorite piece of art in the library. It's a bench, and it's titled "Sitting on History."

You can't tell from the photograph, but this painting is actually done on a 3-D, oddly shaped surface. It's designed so that when you lean from one side to the other, the bookshelves turn. So very cool.

This is one of the largest books in the world. It's an atlas, and it's so old that California is depicted as an island. This book is actually available for use, so if anyone requests it, it takes three people to use. Two people hold the book open from either side and the third person turns the pages. The last person who used the book wanted to take photographs, so they had to build a special scaffold so he could get high enough above the book to get a shot of the whole page.

And here's the bust of King George III. Those books behind him are his personal collection. It's a tower that's about 30-40 feet square, and six stories high. Those books are available for use as well, so whenever anyone asks for one, a library assistant has to go inside the tower on an elevator to find it.

Such cool stuff!