Massimo Listri. The World’s Most Beautiful Libraries. 45th Ed.

Massimo Listri , a Florence native, is a photographer renowned for his masterful architectural and interior compositions. Known for capturing the opulence and rich histories of palaces, libraries, and museums, his work has been featured in design magazines and, in collaboration with international publishers, been collated into over 70 books. He has photographed numerous notable sites, including the Vatican Library and the Palace of Versailles.

Elisabeth Sladek studied Art History in Vienna, Classical Archaeology and Judaic Studies and wrote her dissertation at the Max Planck Institute in Rome. Her special field is the history of the Baroque art and architecture and she is an active researcher and teacher, among others in Vienna, Rome and Zurich. She also publishes regularly on the respective themes.

After studying history, German language and literature, education and philosophy, Georg Ruppelt gained his PhD with a doctoral thesis on Friedrich Schiller. He subsequently worked as a librarian, becoming deputy director of the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel in 1987, and director of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Bibliothek in Hanover from 2002 to 2016. Ruppelt has published over 400 essays and 40 monographs on the subject of books, library science, and cultural history.