A friend told me about a bookshop in Argentina that she’d heard about, it was in an old theatre. It sounded interesting so I thought I’d look it up online. OMG! It’s amazing. It’s called El Ateneo Grand Splendid and is located in Buenos Aires at Santa Fe Avenue, Bario Norte. According to Wikipedia the building was designed by the architects Peró and Torres Armengol for the empresario Max Glucksman (1875-1946), and opened as a theatre named Teatro Gran Splendid in May 1919. In the late twenties it was converted into a cinema and then in 2000 became a bookshop. But rather than knock it down and build from scratch or keep the exterior of the building and turn the interior into a standard bookshop they retained all the original features. So the stage is still there, along with the red velvet curtains, the boxes are still intact, the ceiling still has all its ornate carvings and you can sit, relax and read books in the cafe at the back of the stage. It’s just stunning.
I love the fact that so much of the interior has been kept in its original condition and it goes to prove that bookshops don’t need to be dull, square, clinical spaces but rather this celebrates the flexibility of the bookshop and the book purchaser; books can be a connection with previous eras and atmospheres so I think this is the perfect use of the grand old theatre. The perfect relaxed setting, full of character but not oppressive, in which to while away time perusing books.
It was also named as one of the world’s top 10 bookshops by the Guardian in 2008.
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