The artwork honours the National Year of Reading, and celebrates the Temple as a place originally designed by Castle Howard’s architect Sir John Vanbrugh, as a place for reading and refreshments.

The Temple, on the edge of Castle Howard’s Gardens, will be surrounding by four concentric tables, where you can read, draw, talk, eat and listen. A magnificent sculpture made from hundreds of books is inside the Temple, with books curated from the personal libraries of Vanbrugh and Devlin.  

Visitors of all ages are invited to pause and join in communal reading.

Experience the Library of the Four Winds at dusk with late entry to the Gardens on Friday 3rd July, Friday 7th August and Friday 4th September. Last entry is at 7pm.

More about Es Devlin

Es Devlin is a celebrated British artist and designer, known for public sculptures and installations outside at Tate Modern, and Trafalgar Square in London, and Lincoln Centre in New York, and inside at the V&A, Serpentine, Imperial War Museum and Somerset House. Es has designed stage productions at the Royal Opera House, the Metropolitan Opera and the National Theatre, as well as the London 2012 Olympic Closing Ceremony, and the 2022 Superbowl Halftime show (featuring Dr Dre and Kendrick Lamar). She has also designed stadium tours for music artists, including Adele, The Weeknd and Beyonce.

More about Sir John Vanbrugh

Hailed as ‘the Rockstar of the English Baroque’ and ‘the original starchitect’, Vanbrugh had concurrent careers as an architect, playwright, adventurer, soldier, spy, diplomat and garden designer. To mark the 300th anniversary of his death, Castle Howard is celebrating his legacy with exhibitions, installations, workshops, talks and performances across the tercentenary year. The Library of the Four Winds is part of the Vanbrugh 300 celebrations.