Turku Main Library ( fi, Turun kaupunginkirjaston pääkirjasto, sv, Åbo huvudbibliotek) is the chief branch of

Turku City Library Turku City Library ( fi, Turun kaupunginkirjasto, sv, Åbo stadsbibliotek) is a municipal public library in Turku. Turku Main Library, The Main Library is located in the VI District, Turku, VI District at City Centre, Turku, the city centre. The ...

, located in the city centre of

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. The

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

is approximately 8,500 m².

Old building

The Turku Main Library 2,900 m² old building is a Dutch

late Renaissance Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, ...

style building, constructed in 1903, built and delivered by Turku commercial counsellor Fredric von Rettig and designed by

Karl August Wrede Karl August Wrede (18 September 1859 – 25 May 1943) was a Finnish-Swedish architect. His buildings are mostly in the Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Gothic styles. Biography He was born into a noble family, the Wrede af Elimä, at their manor home. Hi ...

. The design was based on a

Swedish House of Nobility The House of Nobility ( sv, Riddarhuset) in Stockholm, Sweden, is a corporation and a building that maintains records and acts as an interest group on behalf of the Swedish nobility. Name The name is literally translated as ''House of Knights'', ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. The first floor was a national library for the

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

and the second was the city library for

academics An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

. These two libraries merged in 1912 to become Turku City Library. This library at the time was the third in Finland. Before there was a library in Turku, the only places to get books from a building was in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

and Rauma.

New building

Turku City Library expanded its operations and moved to a newly constructed building in 2007. The old building was renovated by architectural firm Arkkitehtitoimisto C&Co Oy, and the new section and overall plan by JKMM Architects. The head designer was architect Asmo Jaaksi. There is approximately 5,400 m² of space in the new building. Turku Main Library currently occupies three buildings: the old and new buildings and a former office building for the governor built in 1818 which is now Café Sirius . There is a

walkway In American English, walkway is a composite or umbrella term for all engineered surfaces or structures which support the use of trails. ''The New Oxford American Dictionary'' also defines a walkway as "a passage or path for walking along, esp. a ...

which connects the three buildings, going from old building past the café to the new building. The

reference Reference is a relationship between objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object. The first object in this relation is said to ''refer to'' the second object. It is called a ''name'' ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

and the children's and young adults sections are located in the new building. After renovation was complete in 2008, the

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

, art and music sections can be found in the old building. Charles Sandison Sub Rosa 2011

The principle of

percent for art The term percent for art refers to a program, often a city ordinance, where a fee, usually some percentage of the project cost, is placed on large scale development projects in order to fund and install public art. The details of such programs var ...

was taken into consideration during the construction of the new building. This means that a part of the construction expenses were set aside for art projects at the library. Five works of art were acquired for the library: Saara Ekström's ornamental ''Alkukirjain'' (Initial Letter) spreads out on the walls of the main hall, and her video work ''Aakkoset'' (the Alphabet) can be seen at the Reading Corner of the hall. The sculpture ''Visual Vortex - Passage of Events'' by Hans-Christian Berg is situated in the showcase by the main entrance. ''Vestigia'' by Hilkka Könönen, inspired by abstract painting, is situated at the News Square. ''Hetkinen'' (Moment) by Ann Sundholm consists of gilded objects and a roof, and it shines its light on the main hall from the staff break room of the staff. Finally, Merja Pitkänen has realised sculpture installation ''Esiintymä'' (Occurrence) at the library cafe Sirius. An additional artwork 'Sub Rosa' by Charles Sandison was installed during restoration of the old library entrance in 2011. These pieces are a part of the

Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art ( fi, Wäinö Aaltosen museo, sv, Wäinö Aaltonens museum) or WAM for short, is an art museum in central Turku, Finland dedicated especially to modern art. The museum is located on the east bank of the Aura Rive ...

collection for the City of Turku.

References

External links

Turku Main LibraryThe new Turku Main Library and the per-cent-for-art scheme
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Turku Libraries in Finland Library buildings completed in 1903 Library buildings completed in 2007 Libraries established in 1903