Johannes a Lasco Library

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Johannes a Lasco Library
Johannes a Lasco Library
Johannes a Lasco Library (2010)

founding 16th century, rebuilt in 1995
Duration over 150,000
Library type Specialized library
place Emden coordinates: 53 ° 21 '55.2 "  N , 7 ° 12' 8.5"  EWorld icon
ISIL DE-Em2
operator Foundation Johannes a Lasco Library Great Church Emden, ecclesiastical foundation under civil law
management Kȩstutis Daugirdas (Scientific Director); Gerhard Plenter (Commercial Director)
Website www.jalb.de

The Johannes a Lasco Library (JALB) is a non-university, public and everyone accessible, humanities and theologically oriented special library and educational institution in Emden . It is named after the reformer Johannes a Lasco , who came from Poland and worked in Emden between 1540 and 1555. Special collection areas are the history and theology of Reformed Protestantism , the denominational history of the early modern period and the regional history of East Frisia . It is the most important library of its kind. The house also has a considerable museum section.

history

Interior of the Johannes a Lasco Library

The Johannes a Lasco Library goes back to the archive and the book collection of the Reformed community of Emden, which has existed since 1559, and serves as a public library with a focus on Reformed Protestantism . In this function, it is an important research institution - also in a European context. After three years of (re) construction, the library was opened in 1995 in the ruins of the Great Church , which was destroyed in an air raid in 1943 .

The library, sponsored by the church "Stiftung Johannes a Lasco Bibliothek Große Kirche Emden", was voted library of the year in 2001 by the German Library Association and the Zeit Foundation . In addition to the founders, the JALB has been supported in its acquisition and event program by the German Research Foundation (DFG) since 1995 . The DFG also provides substantial financial support for the development of old holdings and the JALB's editing projects.

For financial reasons, most of the employees had to be terminated in autumn 2008 and the library was closed. The library and scientific operations were temporarily suspended; Events continued to take place. The library has been open to the public again since May 2010, after a grant of seven million euros from the Evangelical Church in Germany and its member churches enabled the reopening at the beginning of the year . The foundation supervision lies with the Evangelical Reformed Church in Leer (East Frisia) .

Library holdings

The JALB owns books from the libraries of Erasmus von Rotterdam , Johannes a Lasco, Albert Ritzaeus Hardenberg and Petrus Medmann . The bibliophile collection of the businessman Johann Philipp Janssen , which was only taken over in 1993, is particularly valuable and comprises around 2,000 titles, including 20 incunabula and several valuable prints from the 16th century. Janssen gave them to the library. According to his instructions, she is housed in a separate room.

Events

Concerts, lectures, exhibitions and other cultural events are also held in the building. An archive of images has been set up since 2001 to document the state of Emden before the Second World War .

architecture

The hall (the rebuilt nave) is one of the most beautiful museum event rooms in northern Germany. It has excellent acoustics and can accommodate up to 400 visitors.

Elements of modern industrial architecture were built into the church, which was built in the 15th century and partly destroyed in an air raid in 1943.

people

  • Heinold Fast , long-time director of the Evangelical Reformed Library in Emden (predecessor of the Johannes a Lasco Library)
  • Walter Schulz, initiator of the partial reconstruction of the Great Church as the Johannes a Lasco Library
  • J. Marius J. Lange van Ravenswaay , Scientific Director of the Johannes a Lasco Library from 2010 to 2017.

literature

  • Uwe Roeder: Johannes a Lasco Library - Great Church Emden. A guide to the library and building. 2nd updated edition, Fink, Lindenberg im Allgäu 2018, ISBN 978-3-89870-029-0 .
  • J. Marius J. Lange van Ravenswaay: Testimonies to a great history In: The fantastic four. Dossier "Reformation Anniversary No. 2", Politics a. Culture 2017, pp. 48–49. ISBN 978-3-934868-44-1
  • Helmut Kremers: In the Groote Kerk. Place of living memory not only for the Reformed: the Johannes a Lasco library in Emden . In: Zeitzeichen 1/2011, pp. 54–59.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Benno Schirrmeister: The Johannes a Lasco library closes , taz of December 19, 2008
  2. ^ Evangelical Reformed Church Leer: Press release on the Johannes a Lasco Library , November 20, 2008
  3. ↑ http://www.jalb.de/13283-0-0-49.html