Cathedral library
A cathedral library is a library belonging to an episcopal church , which was mostly founded in the Middle Ages. Today they are often also open to the public as cathedral and diocesan libraries.
Proven as a library form since the early Middle Ages, the cathedral libraries grew mainly through the donations of bishops and members of the local cathedral chapter . In a few cases, the medieval cathedral libraries have survived to the present day - for example the cathedral libraries in Cologne ( Archbishop's Diocesan and Cathedral Library Cologne ) and Merseburg. Others were dissolved in the course of secularization and transferred to the ruler's court library - e.g. B. the cathedral library Freising - or widely scattered - like the cathedral library Konstanz .