Here are some of the most fascinating bookstores around the world.
Livraria Lello in Porto, Portugal
Opened in 1881, Livraria Lello is one of the oldest bookstores in Portugal and among the top-rated ones in the world. The structure lures people inside with its beautiful façade in neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau style, and then it amazes them with a marvelous stairway, intricate wooden walls, and a stained glass ceiling.
Libreria Acqua Alta in Venice, Italy
Hangzhou Zhongshuge Bookstore in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Hangzhou Zhongshuge Bookstore has a glass façade covered with texts in different languages. Inside the bookstore, a white space welcomes the customers. The books are displayed on columns randomly dispersed around the bookstore like trees in a forest. the mirrored walls further increase the forest effect and make the columns look twice as tall.
Selexyz Dominicanen in Maastricht , the Netherlands
The Gothic building of the Selexyz Dominicanen bookstore was originally built more than 700 years ago as a church. During Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of Maastricht in 1794, the church served as a storehouse for house equipment and personnel until he abandoned the town. Later, the church continued to function as a warehouse and an archival space until a group of modern architects renovated the building and turned it into a bookstore in 2005.
Shakespeare & Company in Paris, France
Founded in 1951 by George Whitman, Shakespeare & Company is an English-language bookstore in Paris. However, it is not the original Shakespeare & Company which was opened by Sylvia Beach in 1919 and closed in 1941. In fact, the current Shakespeare & Company was called Le Mistral when it was founded. Later, Whitman renamed the bookstore in 1964, following Sylvia Beach’s death and on the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birth.
9 3/4 Bookstore and Café in Medellín, Colombia
Tsutaya Bookstore in Nagoya, Japan
El Ateneo Grand Splendid in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Book and Bed Kyoto in Kyoto, Japan
