Abrehot, meaning ‘Enlightenment’, the project was initiated by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. It is located in front of the Parliament Hall at Arat Kilo and could accommodate more than 2,000 users at a time.
The construction of the 19,000-square-meter facility took almost two years and cost more than 1.1 billion birr.
The library will serve as a key to unlock the immense potential of Ethiopians, said PM Abiy while speaking at the inauguration ceremony held on Saturday morning.
The 4-storey facility, the biggest public library in the country, is equipped with 1.5km long shelves that are capable of holding 1.4 million books.
It also has 8 bookstores, a meeting room, a cafeteria, children’s reading area and parking that can accommodate 115 vehicles at a time.
Apart from books, Abrehot library currently houses more than 300,000 local and 120,000 international research papers.
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