It's nicknamed the 'Black Diamond' because most of the building is encased in black marble and glass. It was built in 1999 and is attached to the original royal library built in 1906. It's one of the coolest buildings i've ever seen and after a long walk trying to figure out how to cross the river, I got inside.
The architects, Schmidt, Hammer & Lassen, used the Northern Lights as their inspiration for the interior.
It's attached to the old library by a bridge over the road. Pretty cool.
Inside there's a massive library (obviously), theatre, restaurant, etc, and a fantastic atrium that gives great views over the river. The coolest thing about the building itself is when you walk beside it on the the other side of the river. Because of the materials they used to build it, you can see the water reflected on the outside walls, which make sthe whole building seem to shimmer.
You really have to see it for yourself to get the proper effect. But one of the most interesting things about the library is it's theft record. Between 1968 and 1978, the library saw one of the largest book thefts ever. Someone had managed to steal some 3200 historical books worth more than $50 million and some of them were pretty important. No one figured it out till 1975!!! The thief was an employee of the library's oriental department and he had been selling the books at auctions. He left the remainder of the books to his family. But they ended up being arrested and imprisioned when the police coped on. Have to hate that!!!
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