描述
The Viipuri Library has international reputation as a seminal early work of Alvar Aalto, and is a key example of modern architecture. Simultaneously, the meanings associated with it stem from its geopolitical location: the library was originally opened to the Finnish city of Viipuri, but at the end of the World War II the city was annexed by the Soviet Union. Since 1991 the building has been located in modern day Russia. The title of the book reflects the widely spread misunderstanding that the Library has been lost at war, and future generations can learn about it only from drawings and images. This work unfolds its ‘life’ in four thematic chapters: the context of the city of Viipuri, the Library as a work of Aalto, the time period of the Second World War and the Soviet Union, and the international restoration project.
