The House of Books - The Metamorphosis of the Library Space (Middle Ages)

The emergence of the new European libraries and their spatial configuration at the beginning of the Middle Ages was due to Western Christianity, more precisely to the first monasteries erected in Italy during the 6th century. At first they were sheltered by the small space of the armarium, then they grew as the quantity of books increased occupying an entire room situated within the galleries of the cloister, in the immediate vicinity of the church. The emergence of a structure especially designed for medieval libraries took place at the beginning of the 15th century with the erection of new buildings such as monastic libraries, chapter libraries and collegiate libraries. These were separated from the rest of the complex, and comprised an elongated space on the upper floor designated for storing books and reading. This activity required specialized furniture, which through its purpose and layout generated the lecterns library design, probably the most important innovation of the Middle Ages regarding the configuration of the architectural building type of libraries.

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