Reading Room

The Reading Room forms the round centre of the Great Court. Its shape belongs to a library built for readers, with a domed interior rather than the long gallery arrangement you see in the former King’s Library. Sydney Smirke designed the room, which opened in 1857. His brother Robert had designed much of the surrounding Museum. For generations, the library and its growing book stores occupied the courtyard. The library’s move to St Pancras in 1997 allowed the stores to be cleared and the Great Court to take shape around the circular building. The Reading Room remains a way to understand that older Museum of books as well as objects. For an interior visit, check the Reading Room’s viewing arrangements before planning around it. You can also see how its curved outer wall determines the space beneath the Great Court roof.