Located in Nineveh in modern day Iraq, the site included a trove of some 30,000 cuneiform tablets organized according to subject matter. Chetham’s School and Library. Only monks and invited scholars are allowed inside. They’ve been a part of monasteries, royal palaces, museums, universities and even hospitals. The ancient al-Qarawiyyin Library in Fez isn’t just the oldest library in Africa. The library was discovered by archaeologists who were excavating at the site of Nineveh, today known as Kuyunjik. for the “royal contemplation” of the Assyrian ruler Ashurbanipal. But, the University of Coimbra in Central Portugal is the location for one of the world’s grandest and unique libraries, the Biblioteca Joanina. Chetham’s Library has been in continuous use as a public library for over 350 years. It dates back to 1368, making it almost 650 years old. “And this is the oldest library in use in the world,” the guide said, indicating the closed door at one corner of the square, past a crooked old tree. That brings us to the oldest, still running, public library in the world. 1,157 years after it first opened, the world's oldest library has finally been restored and unveiled to the public. Like most writers, I grew up adoring libraries. Founded in 859, it’s the oldest working library in the world, holding ancient manuscripts that date as far back as 12 centuries. Lisbon has one of the coolest and most popular bookstores, Ler Devegar. "Due to its age and importance in the Christian world, the monastery’s library has the second largest collection of The library isn’t accessible to the public! The Darby Free Library in Darby, Pennsylvania, is “America’s oldest public library, in continuous service since 1743.” Peterborough Town Library in Peterborough, New Hampshire, was the first tax-supported free public library not only in the United States but the world. But modern life had taken a toll on the library, with its buildings falling into disrepair. Porto is home to (what many consider to be) the most beautiful bookstore in the world, Livraria Lello. Libraries around the world have long been revered as temples of human knowledge. It is housed in a beautiful sandstone building dating from 1421 which was built to accommodate the priests of Manchester’s Collegiate Church. >"The library at Saint Catherine’s Monastery located at the foot of the legendary Mount Sinai, is the oldest continually operating library in the world ." The Library is the oldest public library in the English-speaking world. Entrance to this miraculously well-preserved complex of 15th-century buildings is through a gatehouse that opens off Long Millgate into a spacious yard. The world’s oldest known library was founded sometime in the 7th century B.C. This incredible city has a rich and vibrant history, from the oldest tanneries in the world, to the world’s oldest library in Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque. The entire collection at Chetham’s Library has been designated as one of national and international importance. The Royal Library of Ashurbanipal has sometimes been described as the ‘first library’ in the world, or the ‘oldest surviving royal library in the world’. ©Paul Highnam/Country Life. Some boast an incredibly romantic past while others, like the Library of Alexandria, were destroyed in war or purposely purged when rulers were replaced and governments fell. La Bibliotheque National de France (National Library of France). Reading Room chained books. 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