Bookshelf of the Week: Library of the Fondation Hardt

For this week’s Bookshelf of the Week I thought I’d return to the theme of gentlemanly opulence with this wonderful shot taken by Hannah Swithinbank, of the interior of the Von Hardt library, found in the historic mansion of the Fondation Hardt, on the La Chandoleine estate at Vandœuvres, near Geneva.

Founded by the German, Baron Kurd Von Hardt in the 1950s to promote the study of the culture and civilization of Classical Antiquity, the Fondation Hardt invites scholars who are engaged in research, to stay at the La Chandoleine estate for periods of up to 2 months. And with a library like this at their disposal – crammed with almost 50,000 books – what scholar would possibly refuse?

With its oak bookcases, marble fireplace and luxurious furnishing this is one learning environment that I’m sure any academic would feel comfortable in (I know I would). It makes me wonder how often a group of professors have gathered around that fireplace on a cold winter’s night, discussing the intricacies of Greco-Roman politics?

All of this gathering of beautiful minds paints such a wonderful picture doesn’t it, but perhaps not as wonderful as this picture itself, which Hannah has gifted to us. I thank her for allowing me to share it with RobAroundBooks readers. To find out more about Hannah, her life and her academic studies (she’s currently finishing off her PhD at The University of St Andrews – my former uni wahoo! ), I recommend that you visit her website.

So fellow reader, is this the kind of library environment that gets your learning juices flowing, or are you a bit intimidated by it? I mentioned at the outset, that this was a library of ‘gentlemanly opulence’. Was I right in making that assumption? Would male readers feel more comfortable in this library than women? Let me hear your comments.