| |
Location
328 Swanston Street, Melbourne, Victoria.
The State Library of Victoria is on the corner of Swanston and La Trobe Streets at the northern edge of Melbourne's central business district. A magnificent example of 19th-century civic architecture, the Library building and main entrance is set well back from Swanston Street amidst landscaped gardens and lawns.
Once enclosed by a picket and later a wrought-iron fence, today this park-like area at the front of the Library is a favourite place for people to sit and chat, eat lunch or quietly read a book. For many years, the forecourt has also been also a central meeting point for a range of impromptu and planned political demonstrations.
In the centre of the forecourt is a statue of Sir Redmond Barry, Supreme Court judge and key founder of the Library. Designed by James Gilbert and completed by Percival Ball, this statue is flanked by Jeanne d'Arc - a bronze replica of a statue by French sculptor Emmanuel Fremiet, and St George and the Dragon - a bronze statue by English sculptor Sir Edgar Boehm. A bronze statue by Peter Corlett of Charles Joseph La Trobe, the state's first Lieutenant-Governor and another of the Library's key founders, sits on the north lawn. Close to the corner of La Trobe and Swanston Streets is a contemporary bluestone sculpture by Petrus Spronk. This sculpture is based on a detail of the Library's portico.
|
|
