CBC

1877 Illustration

Canada's Library of Parliament has officially reopened, after a four-year restoration and upgrade costing more than $136 million. The mammoth undertaking was necessary to repair leaking windows, dangerous wiring and walls that were literally falling apart in the 130-year-old building. "Although we were denied the loveliness of the library for a while, it was only in order to bring back the lustre to this jewel on the hill," said Peter Milliken, Speaker of the House of Commons, at a ceremony Tuesday to mark the end of the work. The Victorian Gothic building, with its flying buttresses and copper roof, sits at the back of the existing Houses of Parliament, overlooking the Ottawa River. The delicate restoration and upgrade was necessary because of concern about the library's unique collection of historic books and lack of space to store them, as well as the building's structure. "I felt the building . . . needed some saving," said project director Mary Soper in an interview with CBC Television. The work involved dismantling and rebuilding parts of the exterior and digging below the structure to create a large, climate-controlled space for books and documents. The copper roof has been replaced and parts of the exterior masonry rebuilt.