Take a look inside the 'world's most beautiful bookshop' in Argentina

The Ateneo Grand Splendid bookstore in Buenos Aires will delight book lovers

If you like to spend your time in grubby little second-hand bookstores, rifling through dog-eared paperbacks and old copies of the New Yorker, the Ateneo Grand Splendid bookstore in Buenos Aires may not be for you.

For everyone else, though, it is a wonder. Imagine if thousands and thousands of books were housed in a building that is a cross between the Sistine chapel and the very best university libraries.

The bookstore, originally a theatre that opened in 1919, is located in the Recoleta area of Buenos Aires and was recently described as the "world's most beautiful bookstore" by National Geographic.

Many of the original theatre trappings remain intact including the velvet curtain and boxes, which are now cosy reading rooms.

_______________

Read more:

Seven women on longlist for 2019 International Prize for Arabic Fiction

Absorbing account of Afghan history can stand test of time

Newly translated book offers child's perspective on cruelty and war

_______________