“What on Earth is that?”, is the question to most commonly escape a person’s mouth upon first glimpse of the Jinling Library.
For good reason; if Nanjing has any structure more befitting of a place on another world (and there are quite a few), we’ve yet to find it. Yet, the Jinling Library is no recent sci-fi construct; it’s been with us for over a decade.
Opened on 18 October, 2010, after 5 years of construction, the ultra-modern edifice disguises a long and colourful past.
Jinling Library was founded in 1927 but was renamed as the first Nanjing Municipal Library in July of the following year. Another 4 years later saw the library merged with the People’s Science Museum to be again renamed as the Nanjing Municipal Library in September, 1933.
A period of stability followed, until the Japanese invasion of 1937. With troops setting fire to the library, most collections were burnt beyond recognition. Of particular loss were records of nobility dating from the start of the Yuan Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty. Some of the books salvaged from the ashes remain on display to this day.
In 1958, the Nanjing municipal government decided to build a new municipal library, but it took until 1980 for the new building, at 262 Changjiang Lu, to be completed and opened, initially named Nanjing People’s Library and latterly restored as the Jinling library. Today, that location is where we find the Nanjing Library.
Back in Hexi, the Jinling Library stands proud today as a fitting element to Nanjing’s culture scene in the new area of Hexi.
Other libraries nearby abound, while Jinling’s lines and colours both contrast and compliment the adjacent Olympic Centre to the east. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Shengxun Church that sits directly aside to its north.
In addition to the regular library facilities, Nanjing’s Jinling Library offers a 24-hour automated-book-return facility, plus a digital reading room and a reading room for the visually impaired.
