Check out this amazing photo of a giant Buenos Aires theater converted into an equally giant bookstore:
The interior has been exquisitely fresco-painted by Italian artist Nazareno Orlandi. All original features have been retained, the old stage has been converted into a coffee shop, the old stalls are now areas where you can sit and enjoy reading books. The fresco, the ornate furnishings, the golden touches, the delicate lighting, the crimson curtains and the tiers of bookshelves impressively stack in the old stalls, all combine to retain the feeling of the grand and majestic theater that it once was. In 2007, the store sold more than 700,000 books and saw more than a million book lovers wonder through its doors.
To capture the awesomeness of this bookstore, we’ve highlighted some of the most amazing photographs in perhaps our best gallery ever. (via Buzzfeed)
How awesome is this bookstore?









guest
Ooooo! Pretties! Books! I’m in!!
dahlia / 2747 posts
i’ve been there. its not that great lol. the pictures make it look a lot cooler than it actually is.
orchid / 158 posts
Looks like a money laundering operation. Argentina just isn’t the place for big book stores.
ranunculus / 3457 posts
@sometimestheycomebackanyway@xanga – Argentina is not a drug ridden craphole. It’s a country with a diverse economy and a very well educated population. Actually, as a person who’s lived in many many countries, Americans don’t actually read a lot.
“Argentina has, after its neighbour Chile, the second-highest Human Development Index, and the highest GDP per capita in purchasing power terms in Latin America. Argentina is one of the G-20 major economies, with the world’s 27th largest nominal GDP, and the 22nd largest by purchasing power. The country is classified as upper-middle income or a secondary emerging market by the World Bank.”
Try educating yourself.
orchid / 158 posts
@MoonFaeEyryan@xanga - The northern border of Argentina is a haven for drug and gun runners. The Peronistas have bled the country dry and reduced Argentina to banana republic status.
ranunculus / 3457 posts
@sometimestheycomebackanyway@xanga - And the border states in the USA are crime ridden shitholes. Does that mean all of America is the same? NO, because ALL countries have bad areas and good areas. But we cannot ignore the FACTS, that Argentina is a successful country and will continue to be that way. “A recognised middle power,[10] Argentina is Latin America’s third-largest economy,[11] with a “very high” rating on the Human development index.[9] Within Latin America, Argentina has the fifth highest nominal GDP per capita and the highest in purchasing power terms.[12] Analysts[13] have argued that the country has a “foundation for future growth due to its market size, levels of foreign direct investment, and percentage of high-tech exports as share of total manufactured goods”, and it is classed by investors as middle emerging economy. Argentina is a founding member of the United Nations, Mercosur, the Union of South American Nations, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the World Bank Group and the World Trade Organization, and is one of the G-15 and G-20 major economies.”. You’re just another American who believes Latin America is still a craphole. Do you also believe Russia is still a communist state?
orchid / 158 posts
@MoonFaeEyryan@xanga - Most of Latin America is a “bad area”. Not because of drugs necessarily like Mexico but because the people have accepted Marxism.
Marxism is the proven road to poverty and oppression.
rose / 786 posts
That’s beautiful.
guest
I’d die of happiness if I went there!
guest
That’s AWESOME! I’d go there every day if I lived there..
guest
Beautiful! I could be occupied for hours in there.
orchid / 193 posts
Wow! That’s beautiful! I definitely want to go there.
guest
@MoonFaeEyryan@xanga - The most successful country, Chile, was a fascist state. It is no surprise to me that it became a success under Pinochet. Proof fascism rules.
guest
@MoonFaeEyryan@xanga – The country has been close to bankruptcy so many times. Feel free to thank the Americans for keeping Argentina alive, sweetie.
guest
@sometimestheycomebackanyway@xanga - Absolutely correct. Fuck Marxism.
guest
Looks amazing.
guest
The cost must have been staggering. All that, only for books? Absolutely a huge mistake business-wise. How are the bills paid?
guest
yumm! books!
guest
how pretty!! in my town there’s an old cinema that now is a bookstore and you can sit and read on some of the old seats. But that is really awesome!