The World’s Most Unusual Libraries: Where Architecture and Literature Converge

The ancient world’s great libraries – including icons such as Pergamum Library, the Library of Ashurbanipal, and the legendary Library of Alexandria – were more than mere collections of books; they were the epicentres of knowledge, where the entirety of human understanding was said to reside. Today, this monumental legacy lives on, with libraries around the globe offering vast repositories of knowledge that span every conceivable subject. From awe-inspiring architectural marvels to the most unexpected literary sanctuaries, these modern libraries continue to serve the pursuit of knowledge, preserving the ancient tradition of learning in every corner of the world.

Indeed, from the largest libraries in the world to funky phone boxes and everything in between, libraries have always been more than just repositories of books. The very design of a library can elevate the act of reading from a solitary endeavour to a communal and cultural centre at the heart of a community. But not all libraries are created equal, as you’re about to find out.

In one sense, libraries the world over fulfil the same purpose – to bring knowledge to people, but while some are beguilingly beautiful, others are staggeringly strange, and some are wonderfully weird!

From modernist masterpieces to awe-inspiring animals and turbo-charged tanks, let’s take a look at some of the world’s most unusual libraries.

Literally ‘square head’, Tête Carrée is a library in Nice in the South of France. The base is the neck and lower lip of a man, and the top is a giant square housing a library and the administrative offices of the Louis Nucéra Library. Opened in 2002, it was created as a collaboration between architects Yves Bayard and Francis Chapus, and sculptural artist Sacha Sosno, who titled the project ‘Thinking Inside the Box.’

Less a library and more a donkey, biblioburro is unquestionably one of the most unusual libraries in the world, though also one of the most heartwarming! It was the brainchild of teacher Luis Soriano who wanted to give his students in rural areas access to books at home. ‘At first, people saw me as nothing more than a half-insane teacher with some books and his donkey. ‘ What started out as a small collection of seventy books in 1997 is now believed to number over 7,000 and Soriano has helped to open public libraries and schools for rural kids who would otherwise have little chance of a formal education.

Staying on the subject of animals delivering books, the Kenya National Library Service set up the Camel Mobile Library in 1996 to deliver books to nomadic communities in northern Kenya, helping children and adults access reading materials in areas without permanent libraries and to improve literacy rates.

And in Thailand, elephants have been used to get books, education kits and even satellite dishes to remote jungle villages in the northern Chiang Mai province that can’t be reached by car.

The world’s largest floating book fair started life in 1973 as a car ferry running between Malmö in Sweden and Travemünde in Germany. After thirty-one years traversing northern Europe’s sea routes, she was bought by GBA Ships in 2004 and converted into a travelling library with over 5,000 books. The ship travels to port cities all over the world and is believed to have welcomed over 10 million people on board. The ship is crewed by volunteers, and as well as lending and selling books, the teams go to local schools, hospitals, orphanages and prisons supplying books and community care.

Argentinian artist Raul Lemesoff has created the Arma de Instruccion Masiva, otherwise known as the Weapon of Mass Instruction. The 900-book mobile library looks like a bizarre cross between a tank and a car complete with a (non-functioning) turret gun and started life as a 1979 Ford Falcon. Lemesoff drives around Buenos Aires and its surrounding neighbourhoods giving out books to people who don’t have access to a public library. He says that the only condition when he gives people books is that they actually read them!

One library, two countries. While on the surface the Haskell Free Library and Opera House doesn’t appear unusual – it’s a beautiful Victorian building with lots of books – it was purposefully built on the international border between the USA and Canada, known as a line house, and has two addresses –

• 93 Caswell Avenue, Derby Line, 05830, Vermont, USA
• 1 rue Church, Stanstead, Quebec, Canada J0B 3E2

The 20,000-volume French and English library section is in the Canadian part, and the opera section is (mostly, aside from the stage) in the USA and it’s often known as the only library in America with no books. The entrance door is in the USA and Canadians are allowed to access the building without the need to show their passports or report to customs but they must leave via a specific route and return immediately to Canada.

The Future Library, or Framtidsbiblioteket in Norwegian, may be the only library in the world you can’t borrow a book from, that is until the year 2114. The idea was conceived by Katie Paterson, a visual artist from Glasgow, and the idea is that each year for 100 years from 2014, one author adds a manuscript to a collection stored in The Silent Room at the Deichman Library in Oslo. The book will be printed in 2114 from trees grown specifically for the project. So far, the authors who have contributed to the project are –

Margaret Atwood: Scribbler Moon (2014)
David Mitchell: From Me Flows What You Call Time (2015)
Sjón: As My Brow Brushes On The Tunics Of Angels or The Drop Tower, the Roller Coaster, the Whirling Cups and other Instruments of Worship from the Post-Industrial Age (2016)
Elif Shafak: The Last Taboo (2017)
Han Kang: Dear Son, My Beloved (2018)
Karl Ove Knausgård: Blind Book (2019)
Ocean Vuong: King Philip (2020)
Tsitsi Dangarembga: Narini and Her Donkey (2021)
Judith Schalansky: Fluff & Splinters: A Chronicle (2022)
Valeria Luiselli: The Force of Resonance (2023)
Tommy Orange: TBC (2024)

It’s important to recognise the importance of creating spaces that do more than simply store books. Whether static or mobile, brick-built or horse-powered, these libraries inspire curiosity, foster learning, and transform the simple act of reading into a journey – literally in many cases – of exploration and discovery.