Libraries
Hidden Libraries Of Europe
Inside the Biblioteca Joanina in Coimbra, Portugal, two colonies of pipistrelle bats fly between the 18th-century oak shelves every night. They eat the insects that would otherwise eat the books. Librarians cover the tables with leather sheets at closing and clean the droppings at dawn. The system has worked since 1717.
Most lists of beautiful libraries name the same three rooms — Trinity College Dublin, the Vatican, the Library of Congress. The six below are different: harder to visit, smaller in scale, and in three cases still functioning as working research collections rather than museum pieces.
Each entry includes the address, the door you actually want, and whether you need to email a curator a fortnight ahead.
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Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice: vaulted ceilings above centuries of manuscripts.
Why This Place Matters
Biblioteca Joanina at the University of Coimbra (Portugal) is a Baroque library built by King John V in 1717 as a teaching collection. It still holds around 60,000 volumes printed before 1800 and is the only library in the world that defends its books with a resident bat colony.
Admont Abbey Library in Styria, Austria is the largest monastic library in the world: 70 m long, 14 m high, all white plasterwork and gold leaf, with seven ceiling frescoes by Bartolomeo Altomonte completed in 1776. The monks still run it as part of a working Benedictine abbey.
Strahov Monastery Library in Prague — the Theological Hall (1679) and Philosophical Hall (1794) — contains 200,000 volumes and a 'cabinet of curiosities' including a narwhal tusk and a desiccated hammerhead shark, because Premonstratensian monks took the encyclopaedic project literally.
A Short History
The Biblioteca Joanina's three reading rooms (Black, Red, Green) are climate-controlled by the building itself: oak shelves and gilded chinoiserie, two-meter walls, and a perpetual 18–20°C without modern HVAC. The bats handle pests; lime in the walls absorbs moisture.
Admont was rebuilt after a 1865 fire that destroyed most of the abbey but, miraculously, not the library. The seven frescoes survived because earlier librarians had insisted on stone vaults over wooden ceilings — a fight that took 30 years to win.
Strahov's Philosophical Hall was built so tall (14 m, walnut shelving from the dissolved Premonstratensian monastery at Louka) that the original 1794 design included rolling ladders running on brass tracks. They still work.
What You Will Actually See
Biblioteca Joanina, Coimbra — booked guided tours only, 20 min each, max 60 visitors at a time. €13.50 (combined with the Royal Palace). Look up: the ceiling perspective paintings make the room appear twice as tall.
Admont Abbey Library, Austria — open daily except Mondays in winter, €11.50. The four corner sculptures by Joseph Stammel represent Death, Judgement, Heaven, and Hell — graphic, painted wood, not for small children.
Strahov Library, Prague — the two halls are viewable only from the doorway (no entry) to protect the books; the Cabinet of Curiosities at the corridor end includes the narwhal tusk and a stuffed dodo head fragment.
Trinity College Long Room, Dublin — 65 m of dark oak, marble busts, and the 9th-century Book of Kells in a separate adjacent vault. Book a dawn-tour slot (8.30 am) to avoid the Instagram crush.
George Peabody Library, Baltimore (honorary inclusion) — five tiers of cast-iron balconies stacked under a skylight. Free entry, often used for weddings.
Bibliothèque Mazarine, Paris — France's oldest public library (1643), inside the Institut de France. Free, weekdays only, bring photo ID.
Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Paris: iron arches and green lamps above the long reading desks.
Interesting Facts
A few quick notes on hidden libraries of europe before the section below.
These are the details our correspondents most often get asked about by readers planning a trip.
Practical Information
Coimbra: the Joanina tour starts at the Porta Férrea entrance to the old university; arrive 15 min early as latecomers are not admitted mid-tour.
Admont: combine the library with the Adolf Loos-designed visitor center café. The abbey is a 90-minute train + bus from Salzburg; the last bus back leaves at 17:45.
Strahov: enter via Strahovské nádvoří 1/132. The libraries are at the far end of the courtyard; the brewery is on the way back and serves the abbey's own St. Norbert lager.
Bibliothèque Mazarine: take a passport and request a 'lecteur du jour' card at the reception of the Institut de France, 23 Quai de Conti. Free.
Interesting Facts
- The Biblioteca Joanina houses two species of bats — Pipistrellus pipistrellus and Nyctalus leisleri — which together eat roughly 1.6 kg of insects per night.
- Admont Library's white-and-gold colour scheme uses only natural pigments (lead white, gold leaf) and the room has never been repainted since 1776.
- Strahov Library's Philosophical Hall ceiling fresco, painted by Anton Maulbertsch in just six months in 1794, depicts 'The Spiritual Development of Humanity'.
- Bibliothèque Mazarine holds 600,000 volumes including 4,600 incunabula (books printed before 1501).
- The George Peabody Library in Baltimore opened in 1878 and contains 300,000 volumes mostly from the 19th century, untouched by the digital catalogue revolution.
Duke Humfrey's Library at the Bodleian, Oxford: chained books and timber galleries from 1488.
How To Visit
Lisbon → Coimbra: 1h45 by Alfa Pendular from Santa Apolónia, €25. Coimbra-B station, then a 4-minute connection to Coimbra-A in the centre.
Vienna → Admont: 3h15 with one change at Selzthal; combined train ticket + abbey admission via ÖBB for €34.
Prague: tram 22 to Pohořelec, then a short walk up to Strahov. Combine with the Loreta sanctuary next door.
Trinity College Long Room reopens summer 2026 after restoration — check tcd.ie before booking flights.
Final Thoughts
If you go to one, go to Admont. The white-and-gold scale is unmatched and the monks are still actively cataloguing. Brother Maximilian gives the German-language tours and has been doing so since 1989.
Bring no flash, no tripod, and no large bag. Bibliothèque Mazarine will confiscate ballpoint pens at the door — pencils only.
Read in the rooms when allowed (Mazarine, Joanina's Black Room with prior application). The architecture is a frame; the books are still the point.
If you read this article and noticed something we got wrong, please write to us. Reader corrections shape what we publish next.
Marguerite Soto
Regional correspondent for WIGO Trips. Writes about overlooked places and quiet histories.
