Libreria Acqua Alta bookshop in Venice keeps its books in boats and bathtubs

How about a gondola full of books? Just such a gondola may be seen in one of the most unusual bookshops in the world, Libreria Acqua Alta in Venice. Here the books await their buyers not only inside gondolas but in other kinds of boats too, even canoes. The shop is arranged so that its stock does not suffer when the water rises: if the premises are flooded, no books are lost, since they are already stowed in boats, bathtubs and on hanging shelves. The walls of the inner courtyard are faced with books, and even the staircase to the upper tier is built of them. Alas, these elements of décor are fastened with assembly foam, so they are hardly likely ever to serve for reading again. It is always very sad when genuine objects of antiquity lose their meaning for good and become a mere design gimmick, but if one considers that they might simply have been thrown away or rotted to nothing, leaving no added value behind, the pang eases.