Bogota Wednesday celebrated the opening of the 23,000 square-meter Julio Mario Santo Domingo public library with a classical music ceremony performed by the Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra.
The library has a collection composed of almost 35,000 volumes, including books, music, and audio-visual materials, with a special emphasis on the arts.
More specialized rooms in the library include a Bogota room with literary and audiovisual material specializing in the subject of the city itself, and a wing of the library dedicated to young readers, with all facilities miniature-sized for its child audience.
The library also has two theaters. The bigger theater has a capacity of 1,300 people, contains modern state-of-the-art technical equipment, and is intended for cultural events such as opera and drama performances.
The smaller, “experimental” theater has an illuminated gallery for more artistic exhibitions of paintings and sculptures, and can hold 300 people.
The library had a cost of COP87 billion, with a financial group backing the library donating COP55 billion, while the city government covered the rest of the bill.
The final building is the product of five years of planning and three years of construction. The modern stone and concrete structure was designed by architect Daniel Bermudez, who had designed many libraries and university buildings in Bogota before, but never one on this huge of a scale.
The architect oversaw every aspect of the design of the building, down to the color of the chairs and the trees planted outside, and said that he designed the library with the concentrating reader in mind, full of surfaces to absorb distracting noises.
It is expected that nearby Suba and Usaquen localities will benefit most from the new library. The region contains 126 public schools and 552 private schools, with an approximate population of 280,000 children alone.
To view a gallery of images of the library click here.