Paris is on a roll right now – after the recent opening of the stunning Hotel de la Marine and impressive Bourse de Commerce, another incredible cultural space has just opened its doors, after twelve years of renovation – the Richelieu site of the venerable French National Library, containing a new museum and some genuinely astounding spaces.

We went down there just after opening, and it’s an experience not to be missed…

Although we had seen a part of the building a very long time ago, we’d forgotten how impressive the BNF Richelieu is. Although still a library, it’s now a lot more, and not at all the dull and dusty place you might have in mind.

This is obvious as soon as you enter the main courtyard, previously filled with Portakabins® surrounded by dull brickwork. Now, the building is all clean and young palm trees await you in what is now known as the Jardin Vivienne, after the road it looks onto.

The main entrance hall is brand new too, with a new modern stairway that leads up to the museum.

But do go upstairs just yet! A couple of the building’s most gorgeous rooms are actually on the ground floor, including the salle Ovale, a reading room with 160 seats and 20.000 books to consult (including 9,000 comics).

There are also a lot of interactive touchscreens with information about the building, or other themes, and a web page exists with much more of interest.

Dating from 1937, the room has been completely renovated, including the glass ceiling (18 metres up!), and differently-placed new furniture gives the ground floor area a more open feel.

And like all the best libraries, this space is open to all, free of charge!

However, this isn’t the only incredible space to check out on the ground floor.

The Salle Labrouste, constructed in 1868 and also completely renovated, gets its name from its architect Henri Labrouste, also behind the amazing Sainte-Genviève Library that We visitd for the blog a few years ago. Here, a similar metal structure is used but with nine cupolas that give the space a byzantine feel, with the arches resting on cast iron pillars.

It’s a really incredible place that you can’t walk around, but is open to admire from the entrance viewpoint. Even the hall that leads onto it is amazing, with lots of polished marble and sculpted elements…

Perhaps it’s now time to go upstairs and see the museum itself? 😜

With seven rooms spread over 1,200m², nigh-on 900 exceptional exhibits are on show, dating from Antiquity to the modern day, including original manuscripts (Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir…), the original of the The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky, engravings by Picasso and Rembrandt, photos, paintings…

The first part of the visit takes you through (and back through) five rooms (the last one, the Salon Louis XV, is just for you to admire the decor) and they are often as impressive as the works they contain.

Then, you turn a corner and enter the Galerie Mazarin, a vast space like something in Versailles, and one of the best-preserved baroque galleries in France (and a protected historical monument, of course).

Its painted ceiling, richly-adorned walls and liberal use of gold leaf have all benefited from the new restoration, and the effect is pretty incredible.

Time to pick your jaw up off the floor, because there are still some impressive rooms and exhibits to see – a small hallway entirely in marble, a small library that you can poke your head into if you ask nicely, a glass passage leading to a rotunda dedicated to the performing arts, with another gorgeous library (closed to the public but visible though its glass doors)…

If you love Paris for its history and architecture, you’ll love the BNF Richelieu. It’s also very modern in a sense, with numerous touchscreens giving more information, and the quality of the restoration is impressive. Recommended!

And if you want to see all our photos (all 185 of them!), they await you here.

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The museum of the BNF Richelieu (here) is open every day except Mondays from 10am-6pm (8pm Tuesdays)

Admission: 10€ / 8€

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Une publication partagée par Bibliothèque nationale France (@labnf)