11 Incredible Historical Libraries That Will Inspire You to Read More

Around 1,500 years ago, the Library at St. Catherine Monastery was founded. Today, it has stood the test of time because of the vision that recorded human history and narrative must be physically collected. And if this is to be done, perhaps it should be somewhere as beautifully appointed as the knowledge that it keeps safe.

Oldest has put together a guide to 11 historic libraries that hold some of the most remarkable collections in the world. Spanning from Egypt to Australia, these buildings represent millions of volumes that contain a vast breadth of human history. From the over 45,000 rare books and manuscripts held at the oldest library in the Americas, Biblioteca Palafoxiana, to the close to 100,000 books housed at the Raza Library in India, each of these buildings are a physical manifestation of the underpinnings of civilization.

Take a moment to be impressed by how much you still have to read to even get a tiny fraction of everything that humanity has retained over the centuries.