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The presence of three
Maserati Quattroportes, a Gransport and a Spyder at the
entrance of one of the leading libraries in the world caused
quite a stir recently.
For the first time since its opening in 1998, vehicles were
allowed within the walls of this East Parisian government
archive complex, which was commissioned by President
François Mitterrand.
The five Maseratis escorted well-known designers and
architects including Philippe Starck, André Putman and
Jean-Claude Jitrois to the entrance of the Bibliothèque
Nationale de France. The occasion was the 5th anniversary of
the Architectural Digest magazine. It was attended by
1000 guests, many of whom stopped to admire the Maserati
fleet.
Architectural Digest is part of the Condé Nast
Publications Group, one of whose magazines, Vogue,
ran a main feature on Maserati in its March issue.
the Bibliothèque Nationale de FrancE
The
Bibliothèque Nationale is the great national library of
France, in Paris, a governmental archive, and one of the
foremost libraries in the world.
It
originated with the collections of writings made
by early French kings, including Charlemagne.
The collection of Charles V, placed in the tower
of the old Louvre in the 14th cent., and a
library belonging to the house of Orléans at
Blois were brought together at Fontainebleu in
the 16th cent. under Francis I. The collection
was later transferred to Paris by Charles IX,
and was expanded greatly under the supervision
of Jean-Baptiste Colbert (17th cent.). Since
1537 the library has been the legal depository
for all books published in France. Following the
series of regime changes in France it became the
Imperial National Library and in 1868 was
moved to newly constructed buildings on the
rue Richelieu designed by Henri Labrouste.
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Three Maserati Quattroporte luxury sedans (top)
along with a GranSport and Spyder, recently appeared
at the world famous Bibliothèque
Nationale de France in Paris
(above) |
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Mr.
and Mrs. Philippe Starck along with the Maserati
Quattroporte that escorted them to the Bibliothèque
Nationale de France, Paris for the AD's 5th
anniversary event |
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On 14 July 1988, François Mitterrand announced the
construction and the expansion of one of the greatest and
the most modern library of the world, intended to cover all
fields of knowledge, and designed to be accessible to all,
using the most modern data transfer technologies, which
could be consulted from a distance, and which would
collaborate with other European libraries. In July 1989, the
services of the architectural firm of
Dominique Perrault were
retained. After the move of the major collections from the
rue Richelieu, the National Library of France opened
to the public on 20 December 1996. It contains more than ten
million volumes.
The new building
is made of a large esplanade and four L-shaped towers, whose
shape recall the shape of an open book. This architecture
was controversial; many judged that it was costly, and not
very suitable to the storage of book collections. Indeed,
wood boards had to be set up at the windows to protect the
books from the light. Its collection now includes more than
12 million books and manuscripts, 500,000 periodicals,
800,000 medals and coins, and 650,000 maps and prints.
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