Ryhiner Collection
The Ryhiner Collection is one of the most valuable and important privately created map collections of the 18th century . Johann Friedrich von Ryhiner (1732–1803), who compiled this collection, worked for decades in the Bernese civil service. Finally he was appointed to the highest state offices as a member of the Small Council (1788–1798) and in his function as Venner . With the fall of the Old Bern and the upheaval to the Helvetic , Ryhiner was suddenly put into retirement. Now he could devote himself fully to geography and national studies , which had been his favorite pastimes since his youth. Johann Friedrich von Ryhiner left behind a worldwide collection based on scientific criteria that includes around 16,000 maps , plans and topographical views from the 16th to the early 19th centuries .
The private library as a research facility
Maps are a tool for Ryhiner to further develop geographical science . A map collection is therefore a research facility that is also open for educational purposes. Ryhiner therefore undertook to set up an appropriate research instrument in Bern . Ryhiner designed the collection, which is aimed at global coverage, as a collection atlas . An undated directory created after 1796 contains a total of 14 364 sheets (1735 views, 1547 plans and 11,082 maps). 76 of the 541 anthologies were intended for continuation. The value of the collection was 10,476 old francs. The inventory does not contain another 28-volume collector's atlas comprising around 700 maps. The handwritten cataloging part, which has also been handed down, can be divided into a general and a special part: In the two-volume "Geographische Nachrichten" Ryhiner deals with general geography and map studies . The special map customer finally consists of a 25-volume map bibliography, a 23-volume map catalog, a two-volume directory of the Desiderata, two inventory volumes, incremental directories and a map author directory. There is also a smaller collection atlas in the Bern State Archives (6 volumes), which he created for the Bern Medical Council.
The transmission of the estate
After Ryhiner's death (1803), the collection, which initially remained in the possession of the widow Rosina Sophie (1736–1815) , was continued by the nephew and historian Rudolf Friedrich von Ryhiner (1772–1817). After the widow's death, he inherited the collection. Since he died in 1817 as the last male representative of the Ryhiner family , the inheritance probably fell to his sister Rosina Elisabeth (1773-1837). She was married to Ludwig Friedrich von Effinger (1761–1832) since 1794 . Their son was the later mayor of the city of Bern Friedrich Ludwig von Effinger (1795–1867), who ultimately bequeathed the collection to the city and university library of Bern . At the beginning of the 20th century, those anthologies were dismantled that contained maps, plans and views of Switzerland. The sheets were taken out of their context, arranged in a new order and mixed with maps of other provenances. The importance of the Ryhiner Collection lies not least in the almost complete preservation of its original form as a collection atlas and in the existing cataloging section (map bibliography and map catalog) from Ryhiner's pen.
Cultural heritage
The Ryhiner map collection is one of the most valuable and important in the world. It includes more than 16,000 maps, plans and views from the 16th to the early 19th centuries, with the holdings covering the entire globe and all major production centers. The library director at the time, Hans A. Michel, showed the way to the present processing of the collection in 1986. The project to develop the Ryhiner Collection was carried out from 1994 to 1998 as a collaborative project between the Geographical Institute and the City and University Library of Bern, with the support of the State Archives (Karl Wälchli). The management of the project was entrusted to Thomas Klöti, who assisted the library staff. As part of this project, the collection was brought back to its original order, recorded in cartographic and bibliographic records, restored and microfilmed. The printed four-volume catalog was published in 2003. Between 2002 and 2007, all microfilms were scanned and made available on the Internet in a medium resolution. Since 2008, the images have also been available in high resolution on the Internet. In a further project, the images were then integrated into the network catalog IDS Basel / Bern with the catalog enrichment tool ADAM (Aleph Digital Asset Module). As a result of this development work, a rich source has been made available for research. In the maps, plans and views of the Ryhiner Collection, immense geographical and cultural-historical knowledge is stored, which can now be used as a source for a wide variety of issues.
Printed catalog
- Thomas Klöti (Ed.): Ryhiner Collection: Maps, plans and views from the 16th to the 19th century = Ryhiner Collection: maps, plans and views from the 16th to the 19th century . 4 volumes. Bern, 2003. ( full text)
literature
- Thomas Klöti: Maps in the City and University Library of Bern. Developing the Ryhiner Collection . In: Berner Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Heimatkunde 56, 1994, pp. 179–189. ( Full text )
- Thomas Klöti: Johann Friedrich von Ryhiner (1732–1803) - Bernese statesman, geographer, map bibliographer and transport politician . Bern 1994. Yearbook of the Geographical Society Bern 58, 1992–1993. ( Full text )
- Thomas Klöti, Markus Oehrli and Hans-Uli Feldmann (eds.): The world collector. A current view of the 16,000 maps by Johann Friedrich von Ryhiner (1732–1803) . Murten, 1998. Cartographica Helvetica, special issue 15.