Light and darkness, one of the themes of duality that Labrouste consistently explored throughout his works, form another pair of concepts essential in the interpretation of this project[10]. Aside from its exposed structural framework, the building was also celebrated for its access to abundant natural light through its grand windows in the reading room[11]. Additionally, the Sainte-Genevieve Library was one of the earliest civil buildings to implement large-scale gas lighting technology, allowing it to be the first major library in Paris to operate overnight[12]. However, upon deeper analysis, one can sense that the architect may be suggesting more than the surface image of day and night, but rather a dialogue between life and death. Due to its plain, box-like form and eerie name inscriptions on the exterior facades, the project was heavily criticized by contemporaries for its monetary appearance [Figure 6][13]. With explicit similarities to tombstone engravings, the approach of vertical name arrangements was used again by Labrouste in his 1875 competition entry for a battle memorial [Figure 7][14]. Moreover, in the letter he wrote to the public review journal Revue Générale after the library’s creation, he described his original intention of incorporating a garden space with statues in front of the main entrance, bearing high resemblance to a stereotypical graveyard[15].  Proven by these evidences, his funerary references were unmistakably intentional, and the highlight in this narrative of life and death lies within parallelism between the architecture’s exterior and interior settings. Separated by the same wall, the names of memorable – mostly deceased – authors are inscribed on the outside, where their literary works remain to educate and inspire the elites well after their time within the reading room. In analyzing Labrouste’s design intention, Bressani and Grignon propose, “The book, like the tomb, conceals a world separate from that of the living”[16]. Following this logic, the space within the building, specifically the reading room should be considered as not only a new spatial confinement, but also an entirely different spiritual dimension. Provided this, the low-relief human figures guarding the entrance of the reading room also take on a new interpretation. With visual resemblances to graveyard statues as described by Labrouste, the symmetrical sculptures embody the balance between the two realms as must exist simultaneously to frame the same story. Here, the two concepts are valid only when discussed in relation to each other: what is considered “dead” when nothing is considered “alive”? Through viewing the sculptures as the threshold that joins the parallel universes, the layer of life and death forces within the architectural project becomes more apparent.

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Diving deeper into the figurative meanings of the Sainte-Geneviève Library, is it possible that the exposure of the structural elements is not only out of appreciation for the new industrial materials, but more of a desire to disclose a concealed cultural truth? Considering the contemporary social and political contexts, the previous metaphor of death seems to take on another layer of meaning, conceptually representing the restrictive, fictitious nature of Parisian society. To distract the public from noticing their lack of political power, the government constructed an intoxicating society with a collective obsession with luxury and consumer products[17]. As illustrated by the shiftless, confused flaneurs in French artist Gustave Caillebotte’s 1877 painting Rue de Paris, Temps de Pluie, the society was lost, failing to recognize this truth behind the glorious cover[18]. Glass and iron constructed exhibition architectures, the common style in France at the time, reflected this collective desire for attention and exterior confirmation. In his critique of the Labrouste’s Library, architect P.F.L. Fontaine compared this project with the Crystal Palace and analyzes both as “optimistic structures that display the industrial potential of the civilized world”[Figure 8][19]. Nonetheless, despite their common usage of iron as the primary material and exposure of structural frameworks, the two projects hold fundamentally conflicting ideas. The Sainte-Genevieve Library, visually contrasting with both classical infrastructures and contemporary display-focused arcades, presents a distinct profile from the rest of the city. Its lack of exterior ornamentation provides the architecture with entirely different significance from the deliberate distractions of the arcade buildings. Moreover, while exhibition architectures emphasize the power of consumer products serving primarily the bourgeois class, the project, being one of the first large constructions built specifically as a library, invites the public to access and appreciate knowledge[20]. Here, the allegory of light and dark must be mentioned again as the library’s access to natural and gas lighting gains a new meaning: such illumination, intentionally created by the architect, is used to symbolize a moment of enlightenment in the gloomy, corroded environment of contemporary France[21]. Once again relating to the parallelism around the building walls, the surface reflects marks of the “dead” with the inscriptions, where literature “lives on” inside the building. This is an indication that the outside is dead and dull at its core, and to remove oneself from such confused society, one must come to the obtain knowledge. Apparently, the Library appears to be a rare essence that remains “awake” while the world is getting distracted in the mania for consumerism; it stands as a distinct environment, lifting the phantasmagoric fabric of society to provide a different lens for its people to recognize their surroundings. In this case, the human sculptures facing toward the rising and setting sun exemplify the architect desire to be an aware observer: inside this room of ultimate knowledge and mindfulness, one can seek the truth in the absurdity and confusion of the outside world. The narrative is supported by other visual cues found in the library, such as the School of Athens painting immediately before entering the library[22]. The two leading figures walking out of the vault – physically coming into light – suggest a path to intellectual enlightenment, guiding visitors to the ultimate place of knowledge. Therefore, resting on the border of confusion and enlightenment, the two characters indicate the conceptual classifications of contemporary world.

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