Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Unter den Linden)

The Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin traces its origins back to the 17th century as the Prussian royal library, but the building most visitors see on Unter den Linden dates to 1903–1914, a monumental structure built to house what had grown into one of Europe's most significant research collections, and remains one of the finest examples of grand early 20th-century library architecture in Germany.

The building survived WWII with significant damage and was extensively restored over subsequent decades, with a major renovation completed in the 2010s bringing its historic reading rooms back into full public use while modernising the building's infrastructure behind the scenes. The domed main reading room — officially the Reading Room Atlantis — is the building's architectural centrepiece, a soaring, naturally lit space that remains genuinely one of Berlin's most beautiful interiors, open to the public and usable free of charge without membership for anyone who wants to sit and read (or simply look).