High quartzite beds appear vertically as if they were books on a shelf in what could be the world’s oldest bookstore or library between Coimbra and Penacova. Photo by Felipe Patrocinio/National Geographic: Portugal)
One of Portugal’s most unique monuments marks the landscape of the banks of the Mondego River between Coimbra and Penacova. High quartzite beds appear vertically as if they were books on a shelf in what could be the world’s oldest bookstore or library, reported National Geographic: Portugal (August 17).
After receiving the Alva River, its tributary on the left bank, the Mondego is strangled as it crosses the Penedos buttress. Carved over 300 million years, the Livraria do Mondego can be seen when traveling on the IP3, immediately in the area of the bridge over the Mondego River, next to Penacova, according to Penacova Municipality.
Now, Penacova also is known for a much newer library called Biblioteca das Coisas (Library of Things). The municipal library lends books and . . . tools, reported SIC Noticias (November 3).
On display at the municipal library are more than three dozen manual and electric tools, including ladders, a hammer, a large stapler, pruning shears and an orange wheelbarrow, arranged on and around tables. The objective is to increase the range of materials.
Library patrons have embraced the unusual initiative, which is free.