Source: Wikimedia Commons
Welcome to the Librería El Ateneo Grand Splendid in Buenos Aires, Argentina! It’s a pretty big bookstore and a pretty big deal.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
The building, located at 1860 Santa Fe Avenue in the Barrio Norte neighborhood, was conceived in May 1919. It was designed by architects Peró and Torres Armengol. Originally, it was not a bookstore, but actually a theater.
The
Teatro Gran Splendid sat over a thousand people and held a variety of performances on their stage — most famously featuring well-known tango artists like Carlos Gardel. It was then converted into a cinema. In 1929, it showed the first sound films in the country.
Finally, in February 2000, it was converted by Grupo Ilhsa into one of the best known bookshops in Argentina today. It was even rated #2 on
The Guardian‘s list of the
top 10 bookstores across the world.
You know the library the Beast shows Belle in
Beauty and the Beast? This is like that, but real…and better.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
El Ateneo takes up 21,000 square feet. It fills that space with books, people, live music, coffee and good times.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Over a million tourists visit it every year. In 2007, they sold over
700,000 books!
Source: Wikimedia Commons
The architect behind the project was Fernando Manzone, who wanted to keep the original, beautiful look of the theater.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
The balconies remained, and so did the frescoes created by Nazareno Orlandi and sculptures by Troiano Troiani.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
The theater box seats stayed too, and now serve as little reading rooms for those who want them.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
And, we forgot to mention the main stage was converted into a café! El Ateneo’s foundation as a theater isn’t truly lost, because a pianist fills the place with tunes during the afternoons.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Would you be interested in checking out the Librería El Ateneo Grand Splendid?
