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City & Village Tours: 0845 812 5000
£189 million library a cathedral and says that she was
inspired by gasometers! This building is certainly
something of a miracle. On budget and on time the library
opened in September 2013 just when it looked like
libraries were to be consigned to the past, pushed aside by
the digital age and the struggle for public funding.
It looks for all the world like a pile of enormous birthday
presents, gift-wrapped from the bottom up alternately in
gold and black. On top sits a gold hatbox which houses the
Shakespeare Memorial Room, a quasi-Elizabethan interior
created for Birmingham's old central library in 1882 and
reinstated here. Ten stories high, escalators carry visitors
up though the central atrium and there are views of the
City which connects the building to its surroundings.
One of our regular group organisers who came to see us
at the Group Leisure Show at the Birmingham NEC in
September stopped off first at the Library. Amazing she
said, breathtaking in its scale and ambition and she’d had
quite a giggle too when riding up on the escalators she
overheard the man in front of her say to his wife:
See - I told you there were books in here!
And there is a lot more here than books – there are for
example two elevated garden terraces which are intended
to become public gardens for the City. Reviews of the new
library have been very good both from Brummies and the
media.
The new Library of Birmingham may be loud on
the outside but inside it's an enchanting temple of calm
,
said Jonathn Glancey in The Telegraph. Hear all about the
building and then explore – as you ascend the stories
the calm of this building increases and from the garden
terraces you can reflect on what you have discovered in
the new City of Birmingham. And of course there are
cafes where you can buy refreshments before heading
off at 4.45pm.
This day is available weekdays all year with morning
coffee and a fish & chips or vegetarian lunch included at
a pub on the canal for £21.00 per person. The tour can also
be booked daily throughout the year with no refreshments
or lunch included for £11.50 per person.
