The Gabriel García Márquez Library has just been chosen as the best public library in the world for 2023 according to the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). It thus becomes the first in Spain to achieve this distinction, sharing the title with others such as the American Missoula Public Library, the Norwegian Deichman Bjørvika, and the Finnish Oodi Helsinki Central Library.
The award jury valued the Sant Martí facility for its interaction with the environment, the architectural quality of the building, the flexibility of its spaces, and its sustainability. The Barcelona library, directed by Neus Castellano, competed with the Janez Vajkard Valvasor Krškov Public Library (Slovenia), City of Parramatta Library (Australia), and the Shanghai Library East (China).
"The García Márquez in Sant Martí exemplifies the best of libraries in Barcelona," said the City Council's Commissioner for Culture, Xavier Marcé, who recalled that more than 30 years ago the council initiated a cultural policy, accompanied by the Provincial Council, to develop a powerful library network that is now recognized internationally. "We are a city with more than 40 public libraries that are cultural facilities playing a reference role throughout the district and the city," Marcè added, "this recognition is, essentially, a sign of acceptance and admiration for the city's library model."
Inaugurated just over a year ago after an investment of 11.4 million euros and becoming Barcelona's 40th library, the García Márquez receives more than 1,000 people daily, having already lent almost 130,000 books and issued more than 6,000 new library cards. It stands imposingly as if it were that pile of books many have on their nightstand. The building conceived by architects Elena Orte and Guillermo Sevillano (Suma Arquitectura) has designed a chamfer that opens to the neighborhood, creating a new cultural and neighborhood hub, on the corner between Treball and Concili de Trento streets, very close to Rambla de Guipúscoa.
The best public library in the world is dedicated, as its name indicates, to Gabriel García Márquez, author of classics such as One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and No One Writes to the Colonel, titles that can be found in various editions and languages on its shelves. Barcelona has thus wanted to pay homage to the Latin American writer and Nobel Prize in Literature, who lived in the Catalan capital from 1967 to 1975, attracted by the literary agent Carmen Balcells. This is why the square in front of the library bears his name, establishing a dialogue between the two friends.
With a collection of 40,000 titles, the facility specializes in Latin American literature, from classics like García Márquez to the youngest authors. It also organizes events to disseminate Latin American culture such as KM Amèrica. Latin American Literature Festival, now in its second edition. It is even the headquarters of Radio Maconda, an initiative to disseminate the activity of Barcelona libraries with a nod to one of the scenarios imagined by the Nobel Prize in Literature.
However, a resident of Sant Martí like Francisco Ibañez, recently deceased, also has his space in this library. The cartoonist has a collection of about 500 titles, among which can be found comics of Mortadelo y Filemón, but also of other characters such as Botones Sacarino, Rompetechos and all those from number 13 of Rue del Percebe.
But the García Márquez library, awarded the City of Barcelona Architecture Prize 2022 and a finalist for the FAD Architecture Awards 2023, also draws attention for its design, so much so that even residents compare it to the Guggenheim in Bilbao. With an area of almost 4,000 square meters, it is the third largest library in the city, only behind the Jaume Fuster (Gràcia) and the Ignasi Iglésias-Can Fabra (Sant Andreu), and is eleven times larger than the one it replaced in Sant Martí, until recently the smallest in the city.
The building is constructed around a central courtyard that connects its six floors, in addition to providing them with natural light, with a wooden structure that aims to be sustainable and welcoming, to make its tenants feel at home. The same feeling conveyed by its interior, full of plants and even with hammocks where one can lie down to read.
But the García Márquez library also draws attention for its design, so much so that even neighbors compare it to the Guggenheim in BilbaoThe ground floor is intended for more social uses, with an auditorium, an interior patio, and the Radio Maconda studio, while the first floors house the collection, with low shelves to allow the gaze to relax and see the trees surrounding the building. On the floor dedicated to children's and young adult books, there is a sensory space where one can begin their reading journey by experiencing stories in a more intense way, playing with sound, light, and temperature. At the very top, a terrace and a more secluded space for studying and working. And, in times of heatwaves like the current ones, spaces like the García Márquez become climate shelters for many, in addition to being the gateway to unimaginable worlds for those who don't have it so easy to have books at home.