Europe’s most innovative library has a botanical garden on the roof

Standing on the Roof garden of the Library of the University of Warsaw (Biblioteka Uniwersytecka w Warszawie) feels like being in the center of the universe, or at least of Poland. From the perch, you can see the spire of the Palace of Culture and Science, the Copernicus Science Center near the gate, the PGE Narodowy stadium, and the banks of the Vistula River. Below, visible through large arched windows, it is also easy to see students sitting in the study rooms below, surrounded by stacks of books.

There is an inherent appeal to library tourism – seeing the places where nations hold their collective knowledge and history. The Library of the University of Warsaw makes a particularly rich stop. While this intellectual center has only been on Dobra (“Good”) Street for 26 years, the library has long been a symbol of the city’s struggle for knowledge. Since its founding in 1816, it has survived the World War, the November Uprising in 1830, and communism. At a time when, once again, books and knowledge are under threat, in the United States and abroad, it is also a reminder of the wealth of knowledge that can be lost in the digital age.

The building departs dramatically from the Soviet-style block architecture that defined much of the city’s character. As librarian Lilianna Nalewajska explains, its exterior, with a candy-colored pink grid from the ancient library digs (a symbolic link between the past and the present), and a green facade with engravings of books from Plato, the Polish poet Jan Kochanowski, and various other classics, are tributes to what it contains. It is particularly significant when you consider the construction date of the building in 1999, only eight years after the fall of communism, when many of those works were restricted from public access.

“The idea of ​​the architects of this place, Marek Budzyński and Zbigniew Badowski, was to show that this is an important place for humanity,” says Nalewajska. “But here you will find text taken from different cultures, different attitudes. Visitors pass through the books to the light.”

The building is made of glass and steel, a minimalist construction, designed to take advantage of the light in the short days of winter. Large green beams arch through the glass roof, creating a metallic canopy, reminiscent of the forest. In 2002, the Polish Minister of Infrastructure awarded the library an award for its “outstanding digital qualities”.

As Nalewajska notes, the symbolism of the entrance extends throughout the building, particularly noticeable in the statues of Demosthenes and Sophocles, which are located on the columns flanking the entrance.