Johannes Thysius was a man with a passion for knowledge and learning. At an early age, he sought out books to read, and other topics to explore. Over the years of expanding his knowledge, he had a vast collection of books and an amazing library. Before dying at an early age, Johannes wrote in his will that his books be kept in a public space, where anyone who wished to learn about the world through books could by explore his library, and do so. By keeping his library open to the public, Thysius allowed his books to live on through the years, which kept knowledge and theories of the past fresh in the minds of those who wanted to learn.
With the background of the library, and who Johannes Thysius was in mind, I expected to find a more extravagant display of the wonderful books in his collection. However, the library was actually really modest, and simple. The amazing thing about the modesty of it all is that the library didn't need flashy gold trimmings, or fancy rugs to make the library beautiful. The simplicity of the library is what made it so gorgeous! There were only two elements of color inside the library. One, being the crest of the Thysius family in all it's colors, and a red phoenix.
A phoenix was placed in the library to symbolize the rebirth of knowledge and learning, which is what Thysius wanted. The phoenix really resonated with me but it is the idea of rebirth and leaving a legacy. One of my main goals in life is to do exactly that, leave a legacy and a name for myself after I'm gone. It's so amazing to me that even after 400 years or so later, Johannes Thysius has still left his mark on The Netherlands, and great scholars are still going to his library to this very day.
I really enjoyed all of the symbolism that went into Thysius' library. It seemed like even the small details meant something special. I really liked how you tied it back to what you would like your legacy to be!
ReplyDeleteThe design of that library was amazing and it was so knowledgeable in being friendly to the books too. Not only did we get to hold books from 400 years ago but yet they are still in amazing condition due to the desgin. It was amazing Thysius left behind all his book to become a public library!
ReplyDeleteI also really enjoyed his explanation of the symbolism of the Phoenix, since i never really thought about knowledge being reborn and reexamined but after hearing him explain it, I realized that this is how change is made in society, by taking previous knowledge and adding your own knowledge to it.
ReplyDeleteIt was very interesting to be able to have the visual connection between the modesty of the Dutch culture (both then and now) and the explanations from the book about how even when it came to displaying wealth, the Dutch were very modest. I also found it amazing that the library was more open and accessible than other 'libraries' of the time that had chains attaching the books to the shelves.
ReplyDelete