Bahawalpur Central Library

The Bahawalpur Central Library (Urdu: سنٹرل لائبریری بھاولپور), also known as Sadiq Reading Library, is a public library in Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan. It is the second largest library in the province of Punjab.

Bahawalpur Central Library سنٹرل لائبریری بھاولپور
Bahawalpur Central Library was built in 1924
29°23′28″N 71°41′06″E
Location	Bahawalpur, Pakistan
Type	Academic library
Established	1924; 101 years ago (1924)

History

It was founded on 8 March 1924 by Sir Rufus Daniel Issacs during the coronation year of Sadeq Mohammad Khan V.^[1][2][3] It was bult at a cost of 100,000 rupees by Bahawalpur State.^[1][2]

Architecture

Interior of the library

The library is one of the buildings built by the Nawabs that was designed in a hybrid Neo-Gothic-Victorian style.^[3] Unlike other royal buildings, arches in the library are not multi-foiled, but are instead single-foiled.

A porch wraps around some of the building, and has an octagonal tower with Jali work on its arches, and stylized Victorian scrolls at its base.^[3]

Collections

The library is divided into three sections: Main Hall, children's books section and audio visual archive section.^[2]

The library's collection includes older editions of newspapers.^[2] It has over 100,000 books,^[2][4] and contains a repository of historic documents related to the state of Bahawalpur and Khwaja Ghulam Farid.^[3]