The McKim Building of the Boston Public Library, opened in 1895, is one of the grandest civic buildings in the country — Charles Follen McKim's Renaissance palace, modeled on the Bibliotheque Sainte-Genevieve in Paris but bigger, richer, and stuffed with art commissioned for the space. Bronze doors by Daniel Chester French, lions by Louis Saint-Gaudens, ceiling paintings by Puvis de Chavannes.
The two showpieces are the long barrel-vaulted Bates Hall reading room, where Bostonians have studied under green-shaded lamps for over a century, and Sargent Hall on the third floor, where John Singer Sargent's mural cycle "The Triumph of Religion" — his obsessive late project — covers the walls and ceiling.
The arcaded courtyard at the centre, modeled on the Cancelleria in Rome, is one of the city's quietest outdoor rooms. The modern Johnson Building next door, a Philip Johnson box, holds the circulating collection. Free tours from the entrance lobby; the library is also a working public library where anyone can walk in and read.