The Szabó Ervin Library is built around the Wenckheim Palace, an 1890s private mansion that was converted into a public library in 1931. The mansion's original rooms — grand reading halls with carved wood panelling, painted ceilings, wrought-iron galleries, and ornate fireplaces — are open to visitors who buy a day pass. The café on the ground floor of the palace wing is one of the most beautiful places to have a coffee in the city.
Most tourists walk past this place entirely, which is part of its appeal. The building is in the eighth district, a short walk south of the Jewish Quarter, and the café is genuinely used by students and locals rather than organised as a heritage attraction. A day library pass is cheap and gives access to the historic rooms; even if you don't sit down to read, walking through the Wenckheim rooms is worth the price.