Jean Henry (Librarian)

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Jean Henry (born October 27, 1761 in Berlin ; † October 3, 1831 ibid) was a German pastor, librarian and director of the Prussian King's art chamber.

Life

Henry was the son of the jeweler Pierre Henry (1730–1775) and his wife Jeanne Marie, b. Cabanis (1738-1805). The family was of Huguenot origin. After studying theology, he worked as a French Reformed pastor from 1787 in Brandenburg , in Potsdam and finally from 1820 at the Dorotheenstadt Church in Berlin. Henry did not give up his pastor when he was appointed librarian on December 2, 1794 and on Christmas Eve 1794 he was also appointed director of the Kunstkammer. Henry increased the collections by purchasing large collections and arranged all the holdings so that in 1805 he was able to present a complete list. The planned expansion of the Kunstkammer into a universal museum was prevented by the plundering of the Kunstkammer by Baron Dominique-Vivant Denon , director of the Musée Napoléon, during the Napoleonic wars. Parts of the collection, such as the coin collection and the mineral collection, could be withdrawn from the French.

In 1814, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars , Henry traveled to Paris and, after tough negotiations, was able to bring some of the spoils back to Berlin. In 1816, Henry let himself be relieved of the duties of the librarian and was subsequently only responsible for the museum area. The idea of ​​a universal museum was subsequently abandoned; instead, parts of the collection were removed and made accessible in separate museums at different locations in Berlin. So the weapons collection came to the armory , the Egyptian Museum was founded (1828) and the Coin Collection went to the Royal Museum.

In 1830 Henry resigned from his position as royal librarian, but continued to serve as a pastor.

Fonts (selection)

  • Considerations sur les rapports entre l'église et l'état et sur la meilleure forme de gouvernement ecclésiastique: suivies d'un sermon pour l'ouverture du Synode provincial, prononcée a Berlin le 17. août 1819 , Berlin a. a .: Duncker & Humblot 1820.
  • Sur l'étroite liaison du culte, de la foi et de la morale: sermon d'installation prononcé on January 21, 1821 in the temple de la Dorothéestadt; publié à l'occasion de la fête du refuge , Berlin: Starcke, 1821.
  • Bénédicte Savoy (ed.): Journal d'un voyage à Paris en 1814 / Jean Henry , Paris: Gallimard 2001.

literature

  • The good spirit of the Kunstkammer - The Royal Librarian Jean Henry . In: Olivia Zorn u. a. (Ed.): The Museum Island. History and Stories , Berlin: Elsengold [2019], ISBN 9783962010164 , pp. 28–29.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Wilken, Friedrich: History of the Royal Library in Berlin, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot 1828, p. 181.
personal data
SURNAME Henry, Jean
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pastor, librarian and museum director
DATE OF BIRTH October 27, 1761
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH October 3, 1831
Place of death Berlin