Manchester Central Library

Following a four-year period of extensive renovation work, Manchester Central Library is reborn on a grand scale.

It was always a stunning building. Based on Rome's Pantheon, the round structure, Corinthian columns, glass domed great hall have long made it a much loved landmark of the city centre, but the new version is quite simply astonishing.

The renovation has made the building fit for purpose as a 21st century children's library, media lounge, extensive music library, a BFI Mediatheque as well as, of course, host to an awful lot of books.

But the building itself is what draws the breath, resplendent in its glorious new incarnation. It is a wonderful reinvention of a familiar space, revealing treasures hidden for decades. As with the best libraries, it's a place which makes you want to discover more and more.