Upper Lusatian Library of Sciences
| Upper Lusatian Library of Sciences | |
|---|---|
 Historical library room
|
|
| founding | 1726 and 1951 |
| Duration | 140,000 |
| Library type | Scientific library |
| place | Goerlitz |
| ISIL | DE-Gl2 |
| operator | City of Goerlitz |
| management | Steffen Menzel |
| Website | goerlitzer-sammlungen.de/olb |
The Oberlausitzer science library (OLB) with 140,000 volumes, the largest library in the city of Goerlitz and also the most important regional library between Dresden and Wroclaw . It promotes knowledge transfer and identification between Germany , Poland and the Czech Republic . The Upper Lusatian Library of Sciences is a public scientific library and part of the Görlitz collections for history and culture .
history
On April 21, 1779 , 20 representatives of the educated bourgeoisie and the enlightened aristocracy came together in Görlitz, a town with then around 7,500 inhabitants in the east of the Electorate of Saxony and in the middle of the once politically and economically independent Upper Lusatia , to create a scientific society call, which was named Upper Lusatian Society for the Advancement of History and Natural History , from 1792 Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences .
The Upper Lusatian Science Library emerged in 1950 from the library of the former Upper Lusatian Society of Science and the Milich Library , which moved to Görlitz in 1727 .
Society library
The Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences was founded in 1779 on the initiative of the then 27-year-old lawyer, historian and linguist Karl Gottlob Anton (1751-1818) and the squire and natural scientist Adolf Traugott von Gersdorff (1744-1807) in Görlitz. Its members were carried by the ideas of the Enlightenment, which placed human reason in the center, and carried out research in all areas of knowledge. The book holdings were accordingly universal, ranging from scientific works to grammars and encyclopedias to historical literature.
During the 19th century, the Upper Lusatian Society made a name for itself as an association that researched the regional history of Upper Lusatia. The library gained increasing importance as the Oberlausitz provincial library, but it was reserved for members of society and not open to the public.
Adolf Traugott von Gersdorff (1744–1807)
.jpg)
As one of the founders of the Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences, von Gersdorff left his scientific collections and a library with around 10,000 volumes of this association. Today's library has the most extensive collection of literature on lightning protection from the 18th century from the Gersdorff heritage. In addition to the physical , meteorological and mineralogical book titles, Gersdorff's travel diaries, his geographical works and the map collection are among the outstanding objects for research and science. They testify to a remarkable intellectual life in Upper Lusatia and the lively exchange with thinkers all over Europe.
Karl Gottlob Anton (1751-1818)
.jpg)
The Görlitz lawyer Karl Gottlob Anton, ennobled in 1802, suggested in 1779 "to found an active, learned society". In addition to history and law, his academic interest was particularly linguistic research and Slavic studies . Anton earned lasting merits in researching the Sorbian language , Slavic antiquity and early agricultural history . His books in the areas of linguistics, politics and business studies are evidence of this.
In 1801 Karl Gottlob Anton donated his scientific work and around 10,000 books to the Upper Lusatian Society, of which he was secretary. In 1804 he bought this house and one year later made it available to the learned society for its ever-increasing collections.
Milich library
The Milich library was created as a private collection of the Schweidnitz lawyers Gottlieb (1650–1720) and Johann Gottlieb Milich (1678–1726) and was bequeathed to the Görlitz high school Augustum as early as 1727 . In its original existence, it was predominantly shaped by law and religion.
In his will in 1726, Milich bequeathed his collection of around 7,000 books, 200 manuscripts and 500 coins to the city of Görlitz, along with a number of curiosities and peculiarities. He tied the condition that the collections had to be available to everyone twice a week for 200 years.
It was only as a grammar school library that it acquired its comprehensive profile, which was enriched not least by the old holdings of the Görlitz monastery library and Görlitz citizens' foundations (including Samuel Traugott Neumann ). All books in the OLB reading room can still be used today.
A classical set library
The library was occupied in 1806 when Karl Gottlob Anton donated his own library to the society. The first four sheets of books may have belonged to this donation; Another bow was added in 1841. The large book room was set up based on the model of the library of the Francke Foundations in Halle and noble private libraries in Central Germany and Silesia. The basic idea follows baroque theater architecture - with triumphal arches of knowledge that structure the hall like backdrops .
Splendid jewelry is missing as a working library. Spines of books alone adorn the room. The older stucco ceilings were chipped off so that nothing distracted from the power of the word. During the restoration in 1951, the original stuccoing was hinted at again.
Today, as an interior work of art, the hall is one of the most beautiful library rooms of early classicism in its characteristic simplicity .
Today the library also uses the “optics building” of the optics manufacturer Meyer-Optik , which closed in 1990, in Görlitz's Arndtstrasse.
Duration
Today the OLB has a stock of approx. 140,000 volumes. About 80 percent of them are historical works. These include numerous rarities and treasures, such as B. Incunabula or a collection of pamphlets from the 16th century. But valuable manuscripts and around 3,000 historical maps and atlases are also kept in the Upper Lusatian Library.
The holdings assembled in the archive complex are of outstanding scientific value . There is u. a. the archive of the Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences with the papers of Karl Gottlob Anton and Adolf Traugott von Gersdorff, but also the papers of other scholars and poets in the region. The palette ranges from manuscripts by the great Oberlausitz enlightener Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus (1651–1708) to notes by the Muskau poet and Pückler confidante Leopold Schefer (1784–1862) to the estate of the Görlitz writer and publicist Ludwig Kunz (1890–1976) .
With the mill archive from the estate of mill researcher Günter Rapp , the library houses an extensive collection of texts and around 16,000 photographs of mills in Upper Lusatia and the former GDR .
Treasures and rarities
A handwritten codex from the 11th century with texts by the Roman historian Sallust is the oldest volume in the library. Numerous magnificent incunabula testify to the art of the book printer in Gutenberg's time. Pamphlets from the Reformation period demonstrate the important role of printing in the religious and political struggles of the 16th century.
The treasures include the earliest Görlitz print, the first in Belarusian - the Skaryna Bible from 1519 - and the manuscripts on algebra by the important early Enlightenment artist Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus (1651–1708). The map collection includes atlases and single sheets from important European publishers and editors, including Gerhard Mercator (1571) and Abraham Ortelius (1621).
Jakob Boehme
The valuable and extensive collection on Jakob Böhme is of great importance . The mystic and theosophist Jakob Böhme (1575–1624) is undoubtedly the Görlitz personality who achieved the greatest impact in European intellectual history. The little book “The Way to Christ” was the only work by Boehme to be printed during his lifetime. It was created in 1623 in Johannes Rhambau's print shop in Görlitz. It was only after his death that Boehme's writings were distributed worldwide through prints.
Today the collection of literature by and about the most important Görlitzer is an important task of the library. The entire breadth of scientific engagement with Böhme and his work is covered. In addition to editions of works and selected volumes, secondary literature is also recorded. The library provides information on the life and work history of Boehme and bibliographical information for further research under philosophical, theological and philological aspects. With around 1,500 works and articles, the OLB has the world's largest collection on the life and work of the Görlitz theosophist.
gallery
Librarian's room
Title page of the Economic Encyclopedia by Johann Georg Krünitz
Sources and further reading
literature
- Christian Knauthe : Historical news from those libraries in Görlitz . Goerlitz 1737.
- Robert Joachim: History of the Milich library and its collections . Goerlitz 1876.
- Richard Jecht : 150 Years of the Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences: 1779–1929 . Goerlitz 1929.
- Ernst-Heinz Lemper : Adolph Traugott von Gersdorf (1744–1807): Nature research and social reforms in the service of humanity . Berlin 1974.
- Annerose Klammt: Upper Lusatian Library of Sciences at the municipal art collections . In: Handbook of the historical book inventory in Germany . Hildesheim 1977, p. 284-289 .
- Ernst-Heinz Lemper: On the history and significance of the Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences in Görlitz . In: New Archive for Saxon History . Vol. 64, 1994, pp. 85-95 .
- Martin Kügler, Cornelia Eisler: Johann Gottlieb Milich: Scholar and collector . Oettel, Görlitz / Zittau 2000, ISBN 3-932693-55-8 .
Web links
- goerlitzer-sammlungen.de/olb
- Website of the Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences
- Entry in the handbook of the historical book collections online
- Digital collection from OLB Görlitz
Individual evidence
- ^ Johann Gottlieb Milich (1678–1726). (PDF; 83 kB) Scholar, collector and library donor. Upper Lusatian Library of Sciences (OLB), accessed on January 11, 2012 .
- ^ The holdings group "Jacob Böhme". (PDF; 103 kB) Upper Lusatian Library of Sciences (OLB), accessed on January 11, 2012 .