end is semicircular in shape, and is railed off for the attendants and catalogues, a door in the centre giving access to the "Magasin central des imprimés" or stack-room, which is shelved with cases five storeys in height. The interior of the reading-room is very fine. It is about 60 feet high, and is covered with an iron roof supported by sixteen cast iron columns. The construction of the ceiling is bold. Iron girder arches spring from column to column, and the dome surfaces are covered with glazed terra-cotta, fastened with bands of iron, the mode of construction showing inside. The room is divided into nine bays by the columns, a spherical cupola being over each. Light is admitted through semicircular windows in the north wall, and through lantern lights in the domes and the glass roof of the hemicycle. The side arches are filled with bookcases, which are three tiers in height, and are reached by galleries approached by staircases in the corners of the room.
In the first storey of the building, facing the Rue de Richelieu, are rooms for the "Cabinet des Médailles " and the more valuable manuscripts; and on the Rue Colbert side is a public reading-room, the "Magasin pour les Journaux."
The administrative parts of the library are at the side of the "Cour d'Honneur." Access is gained to them through a vestibule, in which is placed portions of the wainscot of the old "Cabinet des Medailles," the panels painted by Boucher, and some royal portraits from the old buildings.
In the Mazarin gallery rare MSS. and books
