City library at Mailänder Platz

City library at Mailänder Platz

From photo motifs to treasures of knowledge - the city library on Mailänder Platz has anything but dusty books to offer! Since 2011, the grey concrete cube has towered around 40 meters high and houses over 1.1 million books and other media. The interior of the impressive futuristic library attracts more than just photographers. Anyone looking for inspiration, exchange or simply a literary diversion will find an exciting cultural offering here. Are you staying at our B&B Hotel in Stuttgart city center? Then the city library is only a quarter of an hour away! B&B Hotels will guide you through the world of literature and tell you all about the unique architecture, the collections, the best events and the current literary festivals.

Stuttgart as an important literary location

Stuttgart has always been closely associated with literature: Who doesn't know the robber Hotzenplotz or the caterpillar Nimmersatt? These are Stuttgart inventions. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the city was even considered a stronghold of German poets and thinkers! Friedrich Schiller, Eduard Mörike, Hans Christian Andersen and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe all lived or stayed here.
Literature is a mirror of society and an important testimony to cultural history. You can see this for yourself in 66 bookshops in Stuttgart! In the Stuttgart region alone, over 200 publishing houses publish around 300 newspapers and magazines and 5,000 book titles every year. This makes it one of the cities with the most publications in Germany.

Is there more than just a library?

The city library is located north of the main train station in the Europaviertel and is the heart of the cultural institution. There are also 18 other branches in the city, a mobile library and an e-library. Mailänder Platz is also home to the Graphothek, the Music Library and the Central Children's Library. While the individual district libraries are part of the city library, other specialized departments such as the hospital or city hall library have been transferred to the Klinikum Stuttgart and the city of Stuttgart.

What does it look like inside the book cube?

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From the outside, the minimalist new building by Korean architecture firm Eun Young Yi looks cool and hard. The square building stands on the site of the former Stuttgart goods station. But at second glance, the cuboid with its double façade of gray concrete and frosted glass is constructed like an onion, inside which the treasures of knowledge are well stored. When you enter the building, you stand in the heart or foyer, a large central space, and are surprised by the bright white that runs through the entire interior from the floor to the walls and the open staircases from the second floor upwards. The various floors and upper storeys are accessed from here.

The colorful book spines are the missing splash of color in this clear and calm environment. Here, the hectic outside world is quickly forgotten and the concentrated search for the right book can begin. The different areas of knowledge - music, children, life, world, literature, knowledge and art - are spread over seven floors.  On each level there are several rooms with shelf galleries, reading rooms and reading places in the central area of the library. The latter are popular with visitors, as they can browse through the books in daylight through the building's glass roof.

Tip: In summer, you should go up to the roof terrace! From here you have a fantastic view over the city and its many green roofs. By the way: For more great photo opportunities, you should know that the library shines a bright blue in the evening. The architectural firm has received many awards for this impressive and functional work of architecture, including the Library of the Year award in 2013.

What is the Graphothek, the sound studio and the library bus?

Stuttgart City Library is a great place to learn and spend time: Here you can use wifi, PC workstations and laptops with internet access, copy, scan and print. But the library offers even more surprising services, such as help with interior decoration! The Graphothek has a collection of over 2,500 original works from the fields of drawing, printmaking, photography, collage and watercolor. The collection is constantly being expanded to include current trends from the art scene and can of course also be borrowed! So if you want to decorate your home in a different way from time to time, take a look at the picture catalog and make your selection.the music department is located on the second floor. Here you will not only find 100,000 sheet music, CDs and books, but also a sound studio where you can make music with an electric guitar, electric drums or electric piano. All musicians can listen to each other via wireless headphones without disturbing other library visitors while playing.Tip: If you would like to learn to play an instrument but are not yet sure about your choice, you can also borrow instruments from the Stuttgart City Library.  
Max and Moritz are the names of the two library buses that visit Stuttgart's elementary school and kindergartens as well as 20 stops from Asemwald to Wangen. Each bus is equipped with 5,000 media and invites young and old to make new discoveries. The library is also well positioned online: In addition to e-books with special features, press databases, reference works and knowledge portals, there are podcasts, e-learning courses and streaming services for music and films.

Literary events and festivals

The Café LesBar frequently hosts events organized by the city library. In addition to discussions and lectures on current topics, comic presentations, workshops, concerts and theater evenings also take place.b gallery is located in the entrance foyer, where 16 large screens connect the virtual with the real space. It is an exhibition space for visual language art, video and net art, where meetings and video installations also take place.for those interested in music: every second Tuesday of the month, the sound studio is open to everyone from 5 pm to 7 pm. The so-called sound sessions are aimed at the curious. Concerts are held regularly in the evenings.literature also has festivals: In Stuttgart, literary events and activities took place at a good 30 locations in 2023 and attracted numerous visitors. Get ready for this year! The B&B Hotels wish you a fantastic visit.