State and City Library

The Augsburg State and City Library is one of the most important Renaissance libraries in Germany and boasts outstanding holdings from the early modern period. In addition, it is also an important facility for the Bavaria-Swabia region. The design for the new building transposes the distinctive features of the existing structure into a contemporary idiom imbued with simple elegance. The symmetry of the neo-Baroque architecture is in a sense reproduced here by the mirror-clad volume, with the older building's ceremonial stairwell – now set at the heart of the new library – serving as a connective element between past and  present. The historic entrance configuration is complemented by the foyer area facing it in the new section. A two-storey reading room is accommodated on the first and second floors of the new building, with further exhibition and event space on the second floor. The reading room affords views of the old windows in the stacks section and of the green inner courtyards, offering a perfect setting in which to study and discuss. The library is used by researchers, students and local people from Augsburg and the surrounding region.