A year ago we were in Reims, France, visiting the cathedral there, and checking out another Carnegie Library. It was closed because May 1 is a holiday in France, but the building was impressive even from the outside.
It was built in the 1920s after much of the city had been badly damaged during the First World War. As a gesture of toward rebuilding civil society the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, helped finance new library buidings in three European cities which had been badly damaged during the war. Reims was one: the others were Belgrade and Leuven.
Thinking of Andrew Carnegie's long reach. Compare that with what too many present-day billionaires are doing.
BTW, the trip to France was great. The guy to the right in the photo wearing the dentist-style turquoise shirt is my husband and travel companion. He likes libraries, but what he really wanted to see on the trip was cathdrals--we took four day trips out of Paris to see some on our 11 day jaunt.
