Carnegie Library of Reims, Art Deco library in Reims, France

The Carnegie Library of Reims is an Art Deco building whose central section projects forward beneath a triangular pediment inscribed BIBLIOTHEQUE, supported by four square pillars above a recessed entrance with dark doors and steps. Long wings with tall rectangular windows in shallow recessed panels flank it behind a low metal fence. Inside, a 10-by-10-metre lobby with Algerian onyx panels and green marble bands leads to a reading room lit by a glass ceiling by Jacques Gruber.

The municipal library's collections came from the Jesuit college, confiscated in 1764, then from Reims abbeys and the cathedral chapter during the Revolution. On 3 May 1917 an incendiary shell destroyed the town hall; the most valuable works had been moved to safety. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace gave the city $200,000, and Max Sainsaulieu's Art Deco building opened on 10 June 1928.

The name honours Andrew Carnegie, whose endowment for international peace gave Reims $200,000 after the war; Reims was one of three front-line cities, with Leuven and Belgrade, to receive such a library. The pediment carries the Latin motto "Educunt fructum folia" (leaves lead to fruit), carved by Édouard Sediey. Since 2005 the building has served for study and heritage conservation, holding about 400,000 documents, including 3,000 manuscripts and a collection on the Dreyfus affair.

The building is located on Place Carnegie in central Reims and is easily accessible on foot. For viewing historical documents, visitors should plan ahead as specialized collections require advance requests.

The reading-room glass ceiling by Jacques Gruber shows an open book on the arms of the City of Reims, and the entrance porch, with its wrought-iron gate by Schwartz-Haumont, won a gold medal at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs. The lobby fountain is meant, in Sainsaulieu's words, as the source of all science and knowledge.