Biblioteca dei Girolamini

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The Biblioteca dei Girolamini with baroque ceiling frescoes

The state Biblioteca dei Girolamini (official name: Biblioteca Statale Oratoriana del Monumento Nazionale dei Girolamini ) is the oldest library in Naples . It houses an important historical book collection and was the victim of a book theft in 2012.

history

Cloister of San Filippo Neri dei Girolamini with Biblioteca dei Girolamini, Naples

The library belongs to the Complesso dei Girolamini , the monastery of the Oratorians , in Naples. It was founded towards the end of the 16th century on the model of the Biblioteca Vallicelliana in Rome by the oratorians Francesco Maria Tarugi (1525–1608), Borla, Talna and Giovanni Giovenale Ancina (1545–1604), who were already known in Rome as "Gerolamini" were designated - this nickname was kept in Naples - and opened to the public in 1586. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Neapolitan philosopher Giambattista Vico used the library. He was buried in the adjacent Girolamini church. The library building was redesigned in the 18th century by the Neapolitan painter , engineer and architect Arcangelo Guglielmelli (1648–1723) and his son and decorated with frescoes by Pietro Bardellino .

After southern Italy was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy , the library and the entire building complex were nationalized on the basis of the law of 7 July 1866, but their management remained entrusted to the Oratorians.

Stocks

The library's red stamp, here overstamped in black with the identification of the music collection

The library houses around 170,000 titles. These include 120 incunabula , around 5,000 titles from the 16th century, numerous manuscripts and around 6,500 musical works from the 16th to 19th centuries. The main focus of the library is on philosophy, Christian theology , church history and the history of Europe . A separate room is dedicated to the philosopher Giambattista Vico, who left his own works to the monastery there.

Closure, repairs and robbery

The library was closed to the public in the 1980s due to the damage caused by the 1980 earthquake and was no longer adequately maintained. After restoration and conservation measures, the library was to be reopened to the public in 2012 under the new director Marino Massimo De Caro (in office since December 2011).

On April 19, 2012, the day the Vico Hall opened, the library was confiscated by the police after the director had "reported the theft of thousands of ancient books." The director and four other external employees were arrested in May 2012; The curator of the library and a secretary of the minister of culture were also investigated on suspicion of stealing valuable volumes from the library. Numerous works could be found near Verona and in Germany; At the beginning of June 2012 there was no trace of a good 250 volumes. 543 books were seized from an auction house in Munich in May 2012. A number of specimens from the theft, meanwhile referred to as “robbery” and “looting”, had been sold abroad through international antiquarian bookshops. Marino Massimo De Caro, who had been dismissed as director, was unmasked by the Italian investigative authorities as a con man and sentenced to seven years in prison as the mastermind of the book mafia.

return

In February 2015, 613 stolen books were returned from Germany to the Italian state. They came from several Italian libraries, including many from Naples, and initially came to Rome for restoration, as some of the art thieves had damaged them badly. The 543 books from Naples were worth at least 2.5 million euros.

On October 11, 2015, as part of a MIBACT campaign , the library was opened to the public for one day as an exception to demonstrate the will to change the situation.

literature

Web links

Commons : Biblioteca dei Girolamini  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The beginnings of the congregation are connected with the Casa di San Girolamo, where Filippo Neri lived until 1583.
  2. ^ Biblioteca statale Oratoriana des Monumento nazionale dei Girolamini - Napoli (Italian)
  3. ↑ Musica Sacra dell'Oratorio dei Girolamini (Italian)
  4. ^ Biblioteca statale Oratoriana del Monumento nazionale dei Girolamini - Napoli (Italian)
  5. ↑ Naples: Girolamini library confiscated . At: Südtirol News , April 19, 2012 ( Memento from July 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ); see also: Sigilli alla biblioteca dei Girolamini i pm indagano sui furti dei volumi . In: La Repubblica , April 19, 2012 (Italian); Massive Thefts from the Girolamini Library in Naples; Auction Aborted (April 19, 2012) . At: historyofinformation.com (English)
  6. ^ Napoli, traffico di libri antichi ai "Girolamini": cinque arresti . At: EoloPress.it , May 24, 2012 (Italian)
  7. ↑ Biblioteca dei Girolamini: scandaloso furto alla cultura . At: La Rosa Nera , May 29, 2012 (Italian)
  8. ↑ Christian Rost: The book mafia and its Bavarian arm. Süddeutsche.de, February 11, 2015, accessed on February 13, 2015 .
  9. ^ Henning Klüver : Bock and Librarian ; at: sueddeutsche.de, August 17, 2012 (accessed on August 21, 2012)
  10. ↑ Elisabetta Povoledo: At Root of Italy Library's Plunder, a Tale of Entrenched Practices . The New York Times, August 11, 2012 (Summary of the events surrounding the book theft; accessed August 21, 2012)
  11. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung No. 35, February 12, 2015, p. 26.
  12. ↑ Martin Bernstein: Stolen, damaged, saved. Süddeutsche.de, February 13, 2015, accessed on February 14, 2015 .
  13. ^ The return of books in FAZ of February 21, 2015, page 15; see also faz.net , February 25, 2015
  14. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung No. 35, February 12, 2015, p. 26.
  15. ↑ Report by Jundra Elce on the library pages.