Just when you thought David Walsh had run out of ways to make Hobart feel improbably cool, the founder of MONA has gone and opened a library.
Not a library-library, obviously. This is MONA. The new space, called Phrontisterion (Greek-ish for “thinkery”), is a labyrinthine cabinet of curiosities disguised as a place to read. Hidden beneath Anselm Kiefer’s colossal concrete amphitheatre and connected to MONA’s existing buildings via sandstone tunnels, it feels akin to stumbling into the private brain of one of Tasmania’s most fascinating collectors.
What is in the library?
The library houses Walsh’s 30,000 eclectic titles from his own personal collection of books, maps, manuscripts, rare editions, autographs and assorted intellectual treasures accumulated over decades. If your dream dinner party guest list includes Shakespeare, Darwin, David Bowie and Albert Einstein, you’re in luck – they’re all here in one form or another.
Among the heavy hitters are Shakespeare’s First Folio, a rare edition of Newton’s Opticks and Darwin’s Origin of Species published during his lifetime. There are signed books by literary legends including Umberto Eco and J.G. Ballard, alongside handwritten documents from everyone from Balzac to Bowie. Casual.
Even the filing system refuses is unorthodox. Rather than submitting to the tyranny of the Dewey Decimal System, MONA has developed technology that allows books to live wherever they please while remaining completely searchable.
When is it open?
It's open from Thursday to Monday, 10am–5pm, with Museum Entry.
Can you borrow books?
Sadly, no, you cannot borrow books from the library at MONA. But guests can spend ample time exploring gloriously random subjects. Visitors can deep-dive into ancient brewing methods, winter rituals, Antarctic exploration, science fiction, casinos, sex, charcuterie and heavy metal pollution. It’s the kind of bookshelf browsing that starts with a question and ends three hours later wondering whether Vikings invented craft beer.
There’s also a map room, a study, a lounge and a wonderfully cave-like children’s library filled with curiosities, books from Walsh’s daughters and an Ames illusion room designed to delight and mildly confuse.
