Stockholm Public Library

Stockholm, Sweden. Founded 1928.

• Type: Public
• City: Stockholm
• Country: Sweden
• Founded: 1928

Overview

Gunnar Asplunds city library opened in 1928 and remains one of the defining buildings of Swedish architecture between classicism and modernism. A tall cylindrical rotunda rises from a low rectangular base, and inside the circular book hall wraps the walls in three tiers of shelves beneath a white drum lit by high windows. It was the first public library in Sweden to let readers take books straight from open shelves. Plans for a large extension were abandoned in the 2000s, leaving the original design intact.