This is the reading room of the Rijksmuseum Research Library in Amsterdam. From the main museum there’s an entrance that leads to a viewing platform from where I took the picture.
This description from Wikipedia:
The library, also known as the Cuypers Library, opened in 1885 jointly with the rest of the Rijksmuseum. It was the largest of its kind in the Netherlands at its completion and remains as such today. It was designed by Pierre Cuypers, a Dutch architect famous for his neo-gothic style. When designing the library, Cuypers strived to create “a space with a sense of grandeur, which appears larger than it is.” The reduced size of the support points at the top and the bottom create the illusion of greater height and grant the entire space a loftier appearance, thus achieving Cuypers’ objective. Since its creation, the library has undergone considerable renovations to restore and improve the building.
Wikipedia, Rijksmuseum Research Library
Similar to the New York Library Main Branch and its Rose Reading Room, I bet I could spend days here….if only I lived closer!
