National Library of India
The architecture of Belvedere House (now the National Library) is simple, but graceful. The grand entrance opens into a spacious park peripherally wooded with subtropical trees. The original milk-white structure of the house with its doors and windows painted in green, was not at all altered or touched and kept as it was, during its adaptation as a library. The pillars of the stack room located in the basement hold up the superstructure of the building. Even today, some of the offices are still equipped with the ancient fireplaces, as mute witnesses of their glorious past. The basement is occupied by movable stacks for storing a rich and valuable collection of books. The main reading room, once the banquet hall for the respected Viceroys and their distinguished guests, is thirty-four metres long. The white ceiling of the hall is held up by classical Roman beams and brick vaulting and supported by Corinthian pillars. The pillars at the fringe of the room prop up a mezzanine gallery which is now used as Carrel. Alcoves underneath the gallery were previously used to store reference works, such as District Gazetteers. Apart from the dining table that was once used by the Viceroys, an ancient London-made grandfather clock still hangs on its wall, as another antique of the colonial past.
