Schoelcher Library - Fort-de-France, Martinique
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 14° 36.286 W 061° 04.079
20P E 708117 N 1615497
The Schoelcher Library is located at the corner of the Rue de la Liberté and Rue Victor Sévère, in Fort-de-France, Martinique.
Waymark Code: WMXW08
Location: Martinique
Date Posted: 03/05/2018
Views: 5
The Schoelcher Library is a public library in Fort-de-France, Martinique. It was designed by Pierre-Henri Picq and originally constructed for the Universal Exposition of 1889 held in Paris to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. After the Exposition it was disassembled and moved to Fort-de-France, Martinique. The building has a large glass dome above the spacious reading room.
History of the building:
The building was constructed between 1886 and 1887 in the Tuileries Garden in Paris, near the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. Reference: (
visit link)
After the Exposition is was dismantled and shipped to Fort-de-France, Martinique where is was reassembled. It is named after the French abolitionist Victor Schoelcher.
Reference: (
visit link)
"The Exhibition included a building by the Paris architect Pierre-Henri Picq. This was an elaborate iron and glass structure decorated with ceramic tiles in a Byzantine-Egyptian-Romanesque style. After the Exposition the building was shipped to Fort de France and reassembled there, the work being completed by 1893. Known as the Schoelcher Library, initially it contained the 10,000 books that Victor Schoelcher had donated to the island. Today it houses over 250,000 books and an ethnographic museum, and stands as a tribute to the man it is named after who led the movement to abolish slavery in Martinique."