Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin

Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin stands in Berlin’s Mitte district as a monumental Neobaroque library designed by Ernst von Ihne. Built between 1903 and 1914, it stretches 107 metres wide and 170 metres long, making it one of the largest buildings in Berlin’s historic centre. Corinthian columns, pilasters, and sculptures by Otto Lessing give the façade its ordered, ceremonial character.

Wilhelm II commissioned the building to replace the former Königliche Marstall. Its original interior held a domed reading room and a grand staircase beneath a barrel vault, but wartime damage destroyed the reading rooms while leaving much of the façade intact. Changes after the war added magazine towers, while the renovation and expansion from 2005 to 2019 reconstructed the dome and introduced new reading rooms, storage facilities, and a glass cube reading room.

The building now houses the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. At the main entrance, a tympanum relief shows art and technology paying homage to Athena, linking the architecture to the pursuit of knowledge.