Very Large Library – the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF)

  • Paris, France
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  • Slide 0
  • Slide 1

If the tree is the most beautiful symbol of Life, it is also that of Knowledge.

 

Life and Knowledge come from the same roots. Immortality and Knowledge are inextricably linked.

 

From the beginning of human civilisation men have understood trees both subjectively and objectively.

 

Rooted in the earth, a tree is also rooted in the sky. Its roots are branches, its branches are roots. Symbolically it functions in both directions.

 

A library is neither round, nor square, nor pyramidal. It is not a safe or a bunker or a crypt. It is a tree of Life and of Knowledge. Is it does not grow it dies.

 

The structure of life is tree-like. Evolution is tree-like. The new library can only be made like a tree.

 

 

 

Jean Nouvel