Consider the world’s grandest, most majestic buildings. There’s palaces, cathedrals, skyscrapers… libraries?

More commonly associated with dust than spectacle, for students libraries are often synonymous with boredom, but there are some photogenic readings rooms that belie their reputation and then some.

These picks, researched by holiday rentals search engine Holidu, blends classic with contemporary to find Europe’s best and brightest libraries, from campus eco-builds to medieval monasteries in the foothills of the Alps…