The Old University Library in Copenhagen

The Old University Library on Fiolstræde is defined by its massive, red-brick façade, an architectural choice that signaled a shift in Danish design when the building opened in eighteen sixty-one. Designed by Johan Daniel Herholdt after he won the first architectural competition for a public building in Denmark, the structure was inspired by medieval Italian cathedrals. It replaced an earlier library housed in the attic of the Trinitatis Church, which had served the university for nearly two hundred years before becoming cramped and outdated.