Emanuela Brignone Cattaneo - Biblioteca Durazzo

Biblioteca Durazzo

Biblioteca Durazzo, Genoa 1994

“AN INTACT AND SECRET TREASURE”
(J. L. Borges, The Library of Babel)

Conceived in compliance with the strict requirements of the Curators of the Humanist Heritage, which consider the reader as enemy and a potential thief, the Durazzo Library has been designed to preserve and hand down the extraordinary collection of manuscripts, incunabola and sixteenth century editions collected by Giacomo Filippo Durazzo in 1760.

The project involves the realisation of two display rooms, fitted with long shelves, cabinets, glass cases and display surfaces in painted multilayer wood. Beneath the recently revealed ceiling vaults, the painted walls by Marcello Canzio use a subtle motif to echo the book spines. The volumes, hidden from the natural light, are valuable database of the virtual Library of the New Renaissance.