A unique opportunity

The exhibition Ex Cathedra is held in the Central Library, about which I blogged a couple of months ago. As I mentioned before, visits are usually arranged for groups. And if you have been following our blog for some time, you know that we don’t like groups.

But thanks to Heritage Day, we were not only able to visit the exhibition, but part of the building too! I was exhilarated about this! Not only because it was years ago since I had been inside the building, but also because it’s such a unique opportunity. And it brought back a lot of memories! Very good memories! Every university department has its own library, but the less popular novels and old books are to be found in the Central Library.

On the first floor, The Viking and I visited the Main Reading Room. There are a couple of smaller reading rooms, but this one is the most beautiful. Although it was redesigned after World War II, it hardly has a historical feel to it.  But it’s completely made of oak, has a two-tiered gallery and contains about 40.000 books. The space itself is 13 meters wide and more than 40 meters long.

I don’t know how it is nowadays, but when I studied here about twenty years ago, absolute silence was requested. Actually, I didn’t mind the silence, because it helped me to better concentrate on the work I was doing and I think it suited this intellectual setting. Even when The Viking and I were there, we walked around carefully, whispering to each other, although I wanted to jump around, because I felt so excited about being back here!

Again, I think the pictures speak for themselves!

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