One of Riga city’s most spectacular 21st century projects is the National Library of Latvia.
It is a symbol of the Latvian spirit and value system.
In cooperation with the leading construction firms in Latvia, Glassense window manufacturing plant in Riga produced shaped and overstep SG IGU’s for the particularly unordinary roof-top sections with Bio-clean, and RAL enamelled glass units. Due to a special transparent coating embedded into Bioclean external surface, the glass stays cleaner for longer and makes it easier to clean. The efficiency of Bioclean remains consistent over time.
The pyramidal structure rises 68 meters high on the Daugava riverbank opposite the historic city centre. This building has thirteen floors.
Today the NLL building is a dominant landmark on the Riga cityscape. It has space for conferences and conventions, and other community events. It has been the most significant investment in cultural infrastructure since the establishment of the Latvian State.
The National Library is a place where collections of national printed materials are stored and provided for reading and exploration. The building can store up to 8 million units of printed materials with 350,000 books provided for free access. It’s size of 40,455 m2 allows simultaneously serving 1,000 visitors.
The building opened its doors in 2014. To mark the occasion, 14 000 people formed a human chain to manually move several hundred books from the library’s former headquarters to its new home. These books now sit on The People’s Bookshelf – another of the building’s central design elements. This extraordinary bookshelf – seen in the atrium – holds approximately 7000 books in 50 languages from all over the world.
The National Library of Latvia was formed in 1919 after the independent Republic of Latvia was proclaimed in 1918. Today the Library plays an important role in the development of Latvia’s information society, providing Internet access to residents and supporting research and lifelong education.
