at a glance

founded in 1873 by imperdaor dom pedro ii, the biblioteca pública do estado do rio de janeiro, or - bpe, is a landmark cultural and historical institution for the city.

in 2008 the library was closed for five years for redesign and modernization - the works cost nearly 80 million reals, and resulted in the library becoming the largest and most modern in brazil as well as the first library in latin america to have a sustainable building - the bpe uses solar energy and low energy bulbs which greatly reduce the energy consumption - it has a green roof on the main building which acts as a cooler, it has a system for utilizing rainwater, and all its floors have certified wood.

the redesign of the library has also included a transformation of the library's collection and its focus - the expanded collection comprises approximately 250,000 items, including 300,000 films, 1,000,000 scanned songs and some rare books.