13D Australia Summer Trip: State Library of Victoria, Melbourne
For the first time in my life, I am so excited to check out a library. I am never a bookworm and my favourite book (or some sort of book) when I was young is Japanese comics which are also known as manga. Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, Doraemon, you name it, chances are I have them all in my bookshelf. Totally not happy with her daughter's choice of read, my own dad has to force me to read even Harry Potter last time and by that time, J.K. Rowling has written three Harry Potter books. I never regret that decision though because turns out I can be addicted to books full of words and Harry Potter has become integral part of my life. Without it, I would not be able to converse about the magical world with my peers and probably would be left out from society. Okay, maybe not that bad but you get the idea, right?
Random intro aside, State Library of Victoria in the city centre of Melbourne is a magnificent 19th-century building with some of the city's most beautiful heritage interiors. In other words, just from its outward appearance, I can immediately get the impression that State Library of Victoria is not your normal neighbourhood library. You had to pass the statue of Mr Redmond Barry, a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria, in order to get into the library though. The reason of why there is a statue made after him is because Mr Barry was the president of the trustees of the State Library. He was so influential and had given many contributions to the library so in return one of the reading rooms in the library is named after him.
The highlight of the State Library of Victoria is definitely the La Trobe Reading Room with its majestic dome ceiling (my phone camera could not get the whole dome reading room in the screen). The domed, sky-lit structure was designed to imitate London's British Museum Library and Washington's Library of Congress.
The reading room houses more than 150,000 items relating to Victoria's cultural and social history in the form of manuscripts, periodicals, pictures, music, heritage materials and of course, books. If I am a student who is studying in Melbourne, I would probably choose to study here all the time. But then again, it may not be that easy to commute here all the time if my school is not situated nearby. Just daydreaming then.
Other than books, visitors to the State Library of Victoria can also enjoy a lot of exhibitions, some are permanent. The library's Cowen Gallery houses one of Australia's most significant collections of Victorian artworks. You can see the history of Melbourne from one oil paintings to another depicting Victoria's rich history in scenes of European settlement, early Melbourne streetscapes and portraits of some of Australia's most influential figures.
Cowen Gallery consists of two adjacent rooms, the Blue Rotunda and The Red Rotunda. You can see the Blue Rotunda room above which displays 20th century works such as portraits of authors, artists and others who have contributed to Victoria's rich culture. While on the other hand, the Red Rotunda (which is pictured below) contains 19th century paintings and sculptures of some Victoria's early settlers and other individuals who also made significant contributions to Melbourne's culture.
Other than reading room, we note that there is a chess room somewhere on the upper levels of the library. I was never a good chess player although I, at least, know the basic rules of chess. I wonder if the modern Australian like to play chess. The room was deserted when I visited the library.
Once we had finished our own tour of the State Library of Victoria, we walked to the side of the library building to find Mr Tulk, a cafe which is named after State Library's first librarian, Augustus Henry Tulk. The cafe was used to be the State Library's locker room which is later on renovated and designed in a reading book theme with communal table available in the middle of the cafe. This is really a good place to enjoy yourself with a book/ paper and a cup of coffee.
I had been having one of too many coffees that day, so I decided to go for its less stronger caffeine fix, Chai Latte with Soy and Honey (AUD 5). It tastes so comforting with the addition of soy and honey. The usual chai latte which I have in Singapore is usually too sweet, up the point that it makes me rage instead of comforted. Haizz. Food are available too but Lee and I were thinking of visiting another cafe to have our meal so we only ordered Sourdough Fruit Loaf toasted & served with butter (AUD 7.5). I was kinda having an overdose of sourdough actually so I did not really enjoy the food. I wonder if sourdough is a national staple of food in Australia.
The next cafe that we visited after Mr Tulk is actually the cafe which was recommended by our random Melbourne encounter at Seven Seeds with a Singapore lady. She suggested us to visit Manchester Press for its bagel and coffee. Manchester Press offers two type of bagels, Open Bagels such as Smoked Salmon Lox (AUD 15) and Grilled Chorizo (AUD 14.50) and Closed Bagels such as Reuben (AUD 14) and MP Club Sandwich (AUD 15), which you can see from the picture below. Both Open and Closed Bagels come with a serving of salted pretzels and pickles. Lee seems to be enjoying her MP Club Sandwich but I was not really a fan of my Smoked Salmon Lox. Maybe I was not really a fan of bagel overall because bagel tend to be slightly on the tougher side to chew.
State Library of Victoria and Mr Tulk Cafe are located at:
328 Swanston St,
Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia
State Library of Victoria's opening hours:
Monday to Thursday 10AM - 9PM
Friday to Sunday 10AM - 6PM
Mr Tulk Cafe's opening hours:
Monday to Thursday 7AM - 5PM
Friday 7AM - 8PM
Saturday 9AM - 4PM
Sunday Closed
Manchester Press is located at:
8 Rankins Ln,
Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia
Manchester Press' opening hours:
Monday to Friday 7AM - 5PM
Saturday to Sunday 9AM - 5PM