One of the World’s Most Beautiful Libraries

VIENNA, AUSTRIA — I stood in State Hall, originally part of the imperial residence complex of the Hofburg Palace in the heart of Vienna, looking around and upward in awe. Walnut bookshelves stretched from floor to ceiling; all crammed tightly with 200,000 books published between 1501-1850. Above the shelves, some 30 meters high, is a domed cupola with an ornate fresco depicting the deification of Emperor Charles VI, painted by court artist Daniel Gran. It took him about five years — 1726-1730. I don’t know about Charles’s “deification,” but the fellow is responsible for building one of the most...

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