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My greatest childhood fantasy was to be locked in a library, while someone would pass me food and water from time to time. My school library had the most colorful books that gave wings to my flights of fantasy and adventure.
Times have changed ever since, and amid a myriad distractions in the modern digital age, I wondered if people still read books or are the books gathering dust after all.
Previous blog~ Top 3 Places for Festival shopping in CHENNAI if you're short on time
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A Walkthrough of Chennai's 2 top most libraries
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Anna Centenary library, Located at: Kotturpuram
This is a more recent addition (2010) as compared to the Connemara library at Egmore. The sheer size and extent of this 7 storey public library left me spellbound.
During her visit in July 2011, the then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was in awe of the library. Not only is it spacious and well-maintained, but has a staggering collection of over 6lakh books, journals and magazines in various categories.
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Anna Centenary Library, CHENNAI
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Tip~ They only allow wallets, laptops, notebook, pen, water bottle. Bags need to be deposited outside.
There is comfortable seating and it was indeed heartening to see students, researchers and reading enthusiasts pondering over their books. A library is probably the only place one can experience solemn peace ☮️ amongst like-minded souls.
The Braille section (ground floor), besides books written in Braille, has E-books and audiobooks as well. Another interesting feature about the library is the collection of palm leaf manuscripts.
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| different sections at Anna Centenary Library CHENNAI |
In an effort to preserve 20k such rare reading material in various forms, a project to digitalise these has now made it possible for readers to access these at the click of a mouse. ⤵️
website~ Anna Centenary Library
Connemara Public Library, Located at Egmore
There are 4 National depository centers*
Delhi Public Library, Delhi
Asiatic society of Bombay, Mumbai
National Library, Calcutta &
Connemara Public lLibrary, Chennai
"A library that has a copy of every reading material (books, periodicals etc) published in India
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| Connemara Public Library CHENNAI |
The Connemara Public library that was set up in 1896 on the template of the British Museum Library. Located right beside the Govt museum at Egmore, the ambience within is simple while retaining it's old-world charm. Even so, the library is said to have a vast collection~ as many as 60k books. Look up their official website online 'Connemara Public Library'.
The Connemara library is located on the grounds of what was called 'The Pantheon'. So while here check out the~
National Art Gallery (Pantheon ground, Egmore CHENNAI)
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| National Art Gallery~ Pantheon ground, Egmore CHENNAI |
This building is an architectural masterpiece with a mix of Indo-Saracenic, Gothic, Byzantine, Mughal and Hindu influence. It was however closed due to restoration work. One can view the museum collection in the newer building beside it.
Hope you enjoyed this blog. Do comment if you have any questions and I will surely reply.
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