Fodor's Expert Review George Peabody Library

Known as a “cathedral of books,” the five-story reading room is consistently listed among the world’s most beautiful libraries. Designed by Edmund Lind, it opened to the public in 1878. Its gilded framework of cast iron and gold showcases more than 300,000 volumes printed from the 15th to the 19th centuries in the areas of archaeology, architecture, history, literature, travel, and art.