An “express” library has opened in a new metro station in Warsaw, aiming to provide an appealing cultural space to encourage residents and commuters to forgo smartphones in favour of books and, thanks to fresh herbs growing in a vertical garden, a dash of subterranean greenery too.

The stylish Metroteka, which opened this week in the Kondratowicza M2 line metro station in the Polish capital’s Targówek district, offers two reading areas for adults and children, as well as a space for public readings and events.

About 16,000 books are on offer in the 150 sq metre and can be borrowed through an “express” checkout machine using contactless chips. Readers can return them on site or through a street-level parcel locker for books, available 24/7.

Visitors can study or work in a communal area, borrow a laptop to browse the internet, or simply sit down with a complimentary coffee or hot chocolate to unwind after rush hour travel on the metro.

Its hydroponic garden wall which operates without natural sunlight or soil to grow fresh herbs like basil and oregano, and flowers including nasturtiums and pansies.

“Our dream is for Metroteka to become an educational and cultural centre, and not just a place where you borrow your books from,” says the deputy director of Targówek library, Grażyna Strzelczak-Batkowska. The wall, for example, will be used for debates on food security, sustainability and “how to save the world” in the face of climate change, she says.

She says the unique subterranean location brings the library closer to busy commuters, “both geographically and in terms of time you need to spend on getting the book”. “I always joke that books are not made of glass – you can just pop in, grab a few, throw them on a self-checkout machine, and that’s it, you’re out on a new adventure,” she says.

More than 400 books were leased on the first day, mostly recommended school readings, as well as travel guides and “all sorts of how-to books”.

The library’s innovative model aims to encourage Poles to read more. The annual survey by the National Library of Poland found that only 41% of respondents had read at least one book in 2024, down from the high 50s in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as people turn to TV, streaming services, and phones for entertainment instead.

These numbers are higher than in southern Europe, but lower than in the Nordic countries, or even the neighbouring Czech Republic, the National Library’s director, Tomasz Makowski, says.

He says there are historical reasons for it – with Poland losing 70% of libraries in the second world war, “we had several generations that did not see their parents or grandparents in front of a wall of books” – but also cultural as “reading is not something associated with adulthood”, but with “schools, teachers, librarians, and usually mothers reading to children”.

“Opening a library in a metro station is like a dream for us,” Makowski says, as it challenges that stereotype.

“Libraries should be beautiful and open; inviting, not intimidating. It’s not a shrine, but a place where you can spend time freely, take part in discussions, public consultations, or meet people,” he says.

He says the National Library has also opened a “loud” reading room, breaking with the tradition that such areas need to maintain silence, where “no one shushes you or tells you to keep quiet”.

“To our surprise, it’s still pretty quiet, but they also talk, give tutoring, different kinds of lessons.”