The Royal Library, 1997

"The artistic re-envisioning in front of The Royal Library in Humlegården was given the working name "The Forecourt of Knowledge". The design creates a clear transition between the park and the library building and brings together several of Sivert Lindblom's recurring motifs and materials in a cohesive environment.

The low wall in front of the library simultaneously functions as seating and offers a place to sit down in the sun. In front of the building stand four bronze urns, planted with flowers and vegetation that changes with the seasons. The vegetation gives the fixed bronze sculpture a mutable expression and allows the place to follow the year's variations.

The semicircular setting in front of the library flanks two granite spheres with engraved texts. On one, it says "The Royal Library", while the other is marked with the abbreviation "KB" and the year 1997, the year the forecourt was created. The spheres thus function both as sculptural markers and as a simple identification of the place and its origin.

Sivert has also designed the "flagpole bases" and the double lanterns in front of the library. In this way, the artistic design encompasses not only individual sculptures but also several of the functional elements in the environment. Lighting, plantings, seating, text, and sculpture are woven together into a whole where the boundary between art and architecture becomes less distinct.

The concept "The Forecourt of Knowledge" is therefore particularly fitting. The forecourt literally functions as a space in front of the library, but also as a symbolic passage between Humlegården's public park and the knowledge institution that exists within the building's walls."
/JÖ