Admont Abbey Library in Admont, Austria

Admont Abbey sits on the River Enns. It contains one of the largest monastic libraries in the world. It was built in 1776. Its 7 domes are decorated with frescoes painted by Bartolomeo Altomonte, and house more than 200,000 books.

A part of one of the oldest and largest monasteries in Austria, the Admont Abbey Library exhibits striking Baroque-style artisanship. Developed by architect Joseph Hueber in 1776, the hall is drenched in gold and white hues with seven cupolas and elaborate lime-wood carvings throughout. The jaw-dropping ceiling artworks depict different phases of human knowledge and play off Joseph Stammel's sculptural series “Four Last Things.”

The continuous curved seating and floor-to-ceiling stocked shelves make visiting the Tianjin Binhai Library feels as though you are traveling through a sea of books. Designed by the Dutch firm MVRDV, the five-story space has the capacity to fit over a million books, but the only stores 200,000 volumes. In fact, the majority books within the main room are only printed images of book spines dispersed amongst the collection to create the illusion of fully stock shelves. The white spherical auditorium at the center of the library, nicknamed “The Eye of Binhai,” can be seen from across the neighboring park through an eye-shaped opening of windows.

Founded by Charles V. Despite in 1368, the first collection of the France’s national library was housed within a special room in the Louvre. Today, the Bibliothèque nationale de France spans over four locations across Paris and houses over 10 million titles ranging from arts to law to philosophy. The institution displays countless exhibits and works of art including King Louis XIV’s colossal globes, which formerly lived at Versailles until the French Revolution.

The 213-foot-long wooden chamber with barrel-like ceiling of the Old Library at Trinity College Dublin acts as the perfect display for treasured texts like The Book of Kells and The Book of Durrow. Located off the cobblestone pathways of Dublin City, the Trinity College Library holds over 6 million printed works over its four separate buildings. Completed in 1733 by Irish architect Thomas Burgh, the Long Room of the 18th-century library houses the institution's oldest collection.

Housed in the former mansion of Nawab Hamid Ali Khan, Rampur Raza Library boasts a notable collection of Indo-Islamic works from manuscripts, Islamic calligraphy, and the original manuscript of the first translation of the Quran. Beyond Islamic scriptures, the space also houses 17,000 manuscripts in various languages ranging from Arabic to Turkish and 60,000 printed books.

This Neo-Maueline stunner holds the biggest and most valuable collection of Portuguese literature outside of Portugal with nearly 400,000 rare manuscripts, singular works, and unique proofs decorating the shelves. A trio of Portuguese immigrants originally founded the cabinet in 1822 to bring literary traditions and masterpieces to the newly independent Brazil. In 1887, the doors of the Royal Portuguese Cabinet of Reading opened to the public revealing three-stories of works to be discovered and the radiant Altar of the Homeland by goldsmith António Maria Ribeiro. This Gothic fantasyland was designed by architect Rafael da Silva e Castro. He made a cast-iron skylight and chandelier the crowning centerpiece of the Reading Room. The graduated stacks of books and gilded arches point like arrows toward the delicate glasswork above. (Underneath your feet, you’ll find a black-and-white tiled floor.)