This Manchester library has been rated one of the most beautiful in Europe, John Rylands is the most beautiful old-school library in Europe according to Google reviews – the only UK library to make the list.
John Rylands never got to see the library which bears his name. Originally from a family of cotton manufacturers in St Helens, Rylands set up business in Manchester and became the city’s first cotton millionaire. At the age of 74, he married his third wife, Cuban-born Enriqueta. After John died 13 years later, Enriqueta set about planning a world-class library in his memory. It opened to the public on New Year’s Day 1900.
There are high windows containing brightly coloured glass, but it’s particularly thick. You can’t really see out of them. This wasn’t a very nice area in Victorian times so the idea behind that was not to see outside but still get light in. A way that you could escape from the outside world, really. The building was a gift for the people of Manchester.
There are now 300,000 printed books and 10,000 manuscripts gathered together in Deansgate. Scholars and specialists in almost all fields of learning look upon Deansgate as one of their most sacred Meccas.Ordinary students – as anyone who looks in especially during the University term-time may see – find Rylands invaluable. Its accommodation – so often a weakness in libraries – is excellent and its system of indexing simple.
If you’ve neglected to visit, set an afternoon aside forthwith and make the trip. It’s genuinely enchanting.
always on the road 