Bibliotheca Bodmeriana
The Bibliotheca Bodmeriana is a literary museum founded by Martin Bodmer (1899–1971) in Cologny near Geneva in Switzerland . It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2015 .
Emergence
The bibliophile and collector Martin Bodmer had collected over 150,000 exhibits during his lifetime. He bought his first pieces with his pocket money when he was 15. Having made a substantial inheritance following the death of his father, he decided to invest his fortune in a unique collection of literature. The collection includes not only books and documents, but also pictures, sculptures, reliefs, coins and other things that should represent a "mirror of world culture" for their time. Their claim is not to represent a small excerpt, but the entire world literature - a claim that cannot be fulfilled, as Bodmer was also aware. His approach consisted of symbolically "finding examples that represent a world, a space, a level, a sphere." To do this, he tried to collect exhibits that had been created as close as possible to the date of creation of the respective work; a special focus is on autographs and first editions .
In order to meet the demands of the “library of world literature”, Bodmer placed it on five pillars: Homer , the Bible , Dante , Shakespeare and Goethe .
After his collection became too extensive for the Bodmer estate, the “Zum Freudenberg ” estate in Zurich-Enge, he moved it to the neighboring former school in Bederstrasse in 1928. In 1935 he had this building converted specifically for this purpose. After moving to Geneva in 1951, he moved his collection to a purpose-built building in his park in Cologny, where it is still located today. In 2003, an extension designed by the famous architect Mario Botta was inaugurated and since then the part of the collection that is open to the public as a museum has been housed.
Foundation, endowment
On February 26, 1971 , just under a month before his death, Bodmer signed the deed of foundation for the establishment of the Bibliotheca Bodmeriana. With it he secured the continuation of his collection. The Bodmeriana should be made accessible to the public as a museum and enable scientific studies. The necessary financial means were made available through the sale of a few selected works. The canton of Geneva pays for the maintenance of the buildings . The foundation is headed by an eight-person board of trustees, which always includes a member of the Bodmer family.
Exhibition in 1999
On the 100th birthday of Martin Bodmer and because the museum had to be closed for two years due to urgent renovations, selected works by the Bodmeriana were shown for the first time in 1999 in a traveling exhibition outside of Colognys. About 150 exhibits were under the title "Mirror of the World - Manuscripts and Books from Three Millennia" in Zurich in the Museum Bärengasse (the house has belonged to the Bodmer family since 1818), in Marbach in the Schiller National Museum , in Dresden in the Georgenbau of the Residenzschloss and in Grolier Club shown in New York City . The five pillars of the Bodmeriana also formed the focus of the exhibition.
The exhibition
The museum exhibition today shows the most important exhibits of the permanent collection as well as a special exhibition. The permanent exhibition offers a range and originality that is unique in the world. It begins with early written documents from Sumerian, Egyptian and Hittite times and ends with manuscripts and first editions by modern authors. Important exhibits from ancient history are an Egyptian book of the dead from the 6th century BC. BC, a manuscript of the Iliad from the 8th century BC. BC, a manuscript by Plato's Phaedo from the 3rd century BC. BC, a manuscript of the Odes of Horace , which was still used during the author's lifetime, approx. 20 BC. BC originated. The core of the collection are the famous Bodmer papyri , apocryphal Bible texts, as well as a Gutenberg Bible and numerous Gospels. The modern section contains numerous unique manuscripts, such as the 120 days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade or Gottfried Benn's Morgue, and first editions, such as the works of Shakespeare or Goethe's Faust . In addition, there are autograph works of music and visual arts, such as original compositions by Richard Wagner or the Faust illustrations by Eugène Delacroix .
See also
- Papyrus 66
- Papyrus 72
- Papyrus 73
- Papyrus 74
- Papyrus 75
- My life (seume)
- Category: Manuscript of the Bibliotheca Bodmeriana (Cologny)
Web links
- Website of the Martin Bodmer Foundation
- Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer at e-codices
- Kalocsa Codex, Cod. Bodmer 72 at e-codices
- Felizitas von Schönborn: The Bodmeriana a chorus mysticus. Tour through 3000 years of cultural history. (pdf)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bibliotheca Bodmeriana (1916–1971) | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved August 28, 2017 .
- ^ Martin Bodmer, "Die Bibliotheca Bodmeriana", 1970
- ↑ ibid.
- ↑ "She wants to unite the great texts of all times in a form that is as close to the origin as possible and show them in their spiritual context." Martin Bodmer, “On Collecting”, 1957
- ^ Chronicle of the city and the district of Zurich. Zurich 1964, p. 86.
- ^ Fondation Martin Bodmer: History of the museum. Retrieved February 21, 2020 .
Coordinates: 46 ° 12 '54.9 " N , 6 ° 10' 50.3" E ; CH1903: 502925 / 118980
Collections on Jean-Jacques Rousseau in Geneva and Neuchâtel (2011) | Discount on the Montreux Jazz Festival (2013) | Bibliotheca Bodmeriana (2015) | Statements by indigenous peoples at the United Nations from 1982 to 2015 (2017) | Document heritage in the Abbey Archives and in the Abbey Library St. Gallen (2017)