a city with a rich literary tradition, rio de janeiro is habitat to dozens of libraries, many of them connected to the city's abundance of universities and educational institutions.

for sightseers or those looking for some quiet respite there exist an array of remarkable libraries, many of them architecturally significant and containing in-depth collections of portuguese language titles.

ranging from the sciences and arts to literature, and with numerous rare books and manuscripts, some dating back as far as the 15th century, these collections are quite impressive.

the biblioteca nacional do brasil, for instance, is considered by unesco to be one of the top ten largest national libraries in the world and the real gabinete de leitura is consistently rated as one of the world's most beautiful.