the building damaged during the siege of 1871, stands upon the north-eastern corner of the Kaiserplatz. It was designed by Messrs. Hartel and Neckelmann, and was opened in the October of 1895.
It is a fine, handsome building of white sandstone, in the Italian Renaissance style, and covers an area of 3320 square metres. The plan of the ground floor is given in Fig 137, and a section through the building in Fig 139. It will be seen that the entrance is in the middle of the frontage, and that the large interior hall gives access by a short corridor on either side to two staircases which lead to the first floor. Directly facing the hall is the "Bucher Ausleihe" or book-lending room, 17 metres by 8, and lit from the roof. It is a lofty room, with two book galleries around it. The reading-room is directly behind the lending room, and is 17 metres square. It has seats for eighty readers, of which ten are reserved for special study, each reader being allowed a desk space of one metre. This room is directly under the large dome which dominates the building, and is lit from it, and also by three large semicircular windows high up on each side. There are three galleries to this room, with bookcases 7 feet 4 inches in height in each. The total shelf capacity is about 53,000 volumes. On either side of the book-lending room, and at the back of the stairs, are two rooms of similar size; that on the right contains the catalogue, and that on the left, which seats twelve persons, is used for the study of manuscripts.
