Opened by the late Queen in 2000, the Great Court of the British Museum quickly became an icon of the capital’s cultural landscape.
If you’ve ever wondered what used to fill that gleaming space before it was a courtyard, well, it formed most of the British Library. From 1997, three storeys and several centuries’ worth of books were removed to their purposebuilt St Pancras site, allowing Foster + Part- ners’ glass-covered creation to take shape. Some of that library, however, never left.
The cylindrical centrepiece to which all that tessellated glass is affixed is the original round Reading Room, which has spent much of its new life off limits. Until now.
The domed Reading Room first opened on May 2, 1857, designed by architect Sydney Smirke (another of whose famous domes sits atop the Imperial War Museum), after principal librarian Antonio Panizzi suggested a round room would help with storage. More than 60,000 people visi- ted in its first 10 days.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Shaping the view
Shaping the view The Cart House, near Boddington, Northamptonshire A Modernist garden was exactly the right choice for this newly converted agricultural building
Snakes and snails and puppy-dog tales
Two kindred spirits made it their lives’ work to collect the smallest great poems of the world’s literature’, preserving for children the nursery rhymes, games and fairy tales no longer handed down by their mothers
The ghost of golden daffodils
The flower remains the national emblem of Wales, but how many today are aware of the true Welsh or Tenby daffodil
Kentish variety
Renovations, showjumping and archbishops lend character to two period properties
History triumphs over invention.
A brilliantly acted historical play about two world leaders squaring up to each other outstrips two over-produced versions of Greek mythology, despite their imported Hollywood stars
The lure of Venice
Vedute, the kaleidoscopic views of the maritime republic made popular by Canaletto, so enchanted the British that they not only collected them in large numbers, but soon began painting their own shimmering visions of the city
Power games and the battle for beauty
The Government’s plan to cover the countryside in ugly pylons with seemingly no regard for aesthetics must be vigorously challenged
Mad as a box of frogs
With genes that bear an uncanny resemblance to our own, our amphibious frog friends have aided medical advances and captivated many cultures with their mystical powers, discovers Ian Morton
Follow the yellow brick road
\"IN the 100th year since the death of the man who saved the daffodil I from extinction, the RHS hopes to safeguard the bulb from the perils of a changing climate.
Picasso's mystery lady
A MYSTERIOUS woman has been discovered A under underneath Picasso's Portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto (1901).
