Kremsmünster Abbey Library

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The Kremsmünster Abbey Library

The Kremsmünster Abbey Library is a private library belonging to the Kremsmünster Abbey in the central region of Upper Austria . It is considered to be one of the largest and oldest monastery libraries in Austria.

history

Carlo Antonio Carlone , who not only immortalized himself in the library at Kremsmünster Abbey , began her education around 1680, and the architecture is accordingly baroque. With a length of 65 meters, it is one of the largest monastery libraries in Austria. The ceiling of the library was decorated with portraits of important representatives of history, science and literature, all of which Melchior Steidl carried out.

Premises

It is divided spatially into the magazine built in the 1960s, which mainly houses books from the 20th century, and the old part, accessible to visitors, which is 65 meters long and is divided into four rooms lined up one behind the other: the hall of the Greeks (SG), the Latin room (SL), the narrow "Small Department" (KA) and the Benedictine room (SB). The names of the rooms are based on the portraits in the coves of the rooms. B. in the hall of the Greeks portraits of Plato , Aristotle etc. to be found.

The frescoes in the Greek Hall, the oldest hall, depict the legislation of Moses , the building of the Tower of Babel and the making of the Septuagint . In the Latin Room and in the Small Section you can see King Solomon's request for an interpretation of divine wisdom and the See the meeting with the Queen of Sheba . Finally, the Benedictine Hall offers the frescoes of the sermon of St. Paul on Areopagus and the 12-year-old Jesus in the temple.

Codex Millenarius

The Codex Millenarius, which contains all four Gospels in Latin translation, is one of the three precious shrines of the Kremsmünster Abbey that are of outstanding sacred and cultural-historical value. In addition to the Tassilo chalice and the Tassillo candlesticks, the Codex Millenarius is still in ceremonial use today.

Its inestimable value is determined by its great age, the beauty of its writing and its excellent book decoration. In addition, his text is the only well-preserved evidence of a missing Bavarian-Austrian form of the Vulgate . The Codex Millenarius was created around 800 in the scriptorium of the Mondsee Monastery , the mother monastery of Kremsmünster , or perhaps in Kremsmünster itself. It must have been in Kremsmünster since its creation.

The book decoration from the Carolingian period consists of a total of eight full pictures depicting the four evangelists and their symbols, the associated four magnificent initials at the beginning of the gospel texts and small remnants of the canon tablets. Together with the pictorial decoration, a solemn Carolingian script ( uncial ) makes the holy text a unique work of art.

Library holdings

The library houses a stock of around 200,000 books.

Important writings

  • First volume of the famous Aich Bible (early 14th century)
  • Psalter from 1465 with the oldest view of the medieval, pre-baroque collegiate church
  • Poor Bible from the years 1360/70, originated in Salzburg

Web links

Commons : Manuscripts in the Kremsmünster Abbey Library  - a collection of images, videos and audio files