Boekentoren

The Boekentoren

The Boekentoren, (Dutch for Book Tower) is a famous building located in Ghent, Belgium, designed by the Belgian architect Henry Van de Velde. It is part of the Ghent University Library and currently houses 3 million books (September 2006). The Boekentoren is directly adjacent to the Blandijn, the buildings of the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy.

History

Although the tower is only 64 metres (210 ft) high, it makes a huge impression as it is located on the highest point of the city called de Blandijnberg. Van de Velde designed it in 1933 to be the fourth tower of the city completing the famous three towers of the Middle Ages: the Saint-Nicolas Church, the Belfry and the Saint Bavo Cathedral. Together with these 3 towers, the so called "Tower of Wisdom" helped Ghent realising the dream the town had since it hosted the World's Fair in 1913 of creating a "Parade of Towers".

During the Second World War the tower was taken by the German army because of the great city view they had over there.

Currently funds are being raised for the necessary restoration.

Current culture

The Flemish Television Centre VRT has nominated the belvedere of the book tower for their program "Monumentenstrijd". Translated this means "Battle between Monuments" and was based on the popular BBC show Restoration, which had many viewers in Belgium. (A belvedère - an observation post on the roof with an immense panorama - functions as a popular feature in large-scale public buildings.)

See also

• Google Books Library Project

Photogalery

• 
  Structure of one bookfloor in the tower(2010).
• 
  Large readingroom seen from mezzanine(2012).
• 
  Catalogue and central corridor(2012).
• 
  Furniture designed by Van de Velde for the Boekentoren shown at a Weimar exhibition (2013).
• 
  Construction of the underground repository under the inner garden (2012).

External links

• The Boekentoren
• the site of the VRT show Monumentenstrijd
• Boekentoren Belvédère in 360°
• The European Library