Boston Public Library - Central Library

The Boston Public Library's McKim Building opened in Copley Square in 1895. Bates Hall runs the length of the second floor beneath a 50-foot barrel vault, with much of its original furniture still in place. Elsewhere in the building are murals by John Singer Sargent, Edwin Austin Abbey, and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes.The open courtyard is based on the Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome. Its Bacchante and Infant Faun sculpture is a copy of a work that caused a public fight over nudity and perceived drunkenness in the 1890s. This is still a working public library, not an admission museum. Entry is free, and reading rooms may be quiet or in active use when tours and programs are running. More

The Boston Public Library's McKim Building opened in Copley Square in 1895. Bates Hall runs the length of the second floor beneath a 50-foot barrel vault, with much of its original furniture still in place. Elsewhere in the building are murals by John Singer Sargent, Edwin Austin Abbey, and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes.The open courtyard is based on the Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome. Its Bacchante and Infant Faun sculpture is a copy of a work that caused a public fight over nudity and perceived drunkenness in the 1890s. This is still a working public library, not an admission museum. Entry is free, and reading rooms may be quiet or in active use when tours and programs are running. More