5 results
Library of the Louvre
The Franco-Prussian War was brought about by rising tensions between France and Prussia in the 1860s. France, under Emperor Napoleon III, was determined to check the growth of Prussian power and avenge what it saw as a series of diplomatic humiliations. Prussia, under Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, believed that a Prussian-led war of the German states against France would be a decisive act leading to creation of a unified German empire. The conflict began on July 19, 1870, when France declared war. The French army proved woefully unprepared and suffered ...
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National Library of Brazil
The Library, Bruges, Belgium
This photochrome print of the municipal library in Bruges is part of “Views of Architecture and Other Sites in Belgium” from the catalog of the Detroit Publishing Company (1905). The library, which houses the municipal archives of Bruges, was restored by the Belgian architect Louis de la Censerie (1838–1909) in 1877–81. Its neo-Renaissance architecture, which recalls a 17th-century aesthetic, is reflected in the use of the stepped-gable façades on the roof. According to Baedeker’s Belgium and Holland including the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg (1905), “the Municipal Library, which ...
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Library of Congress
Records of the Southern Song Imperial Library
This work is an account of the Imperial Library (Zhong xing guan) during the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279). It was compiled by Chen Gui (1128–1203), who received the jin shi degree in 1150 and became an official at the library. Issued circa 1265–74, it traces the history of the Imperial Library from the beginning of the Southern Song. The work records the names of library officials, their stipends, their positions, and their daily activities; and provides information on the library’s basic functions, including book acquisition and ...
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National Central Library
Views of Kiev
This early 20th-century album of postcards shows the major sites of Kiev, the capital of present-day Ukraine. The late-19th–early 20th century was a period of rapid industrialization in the Russian Empire, when Kiev grew into a major trade and transport center. Many of the city’s notable architectural monuments and educational and cultural institutions date from this period. The city’s electric tram system, the first in the Russian Empire, began operations in 1892 with the purchase of two electric-powered trams that replaced older, horse-drawn cars. The cable car ...
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National Parliamentary Library of Ukraine
Carnegie Library, Columbus, Ohio
The Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) funded the construction of more than 2,500 public libraries in the English-speaking world, some 1,700 of them in the United States. Carnegie made his first library gift in 1881, to his native village of Dunfermline, which was followed by the gift of a public library and hall to Allegheny City, Carnegie’s first home town in the United States. This architectural rendering shows the main library of Columbus, Ohio, which was built in 1903–7 with a $200 ...
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Library of Congress