Anna Amalia Library

About the Library…

It is one of the first ducal libraries to be made accessible to the public. The public research library houses a major collection of German literature and historical documents. The collection is primarily focused on German literature from the period around 1800. The library preserves these documents dating from the 9^th to the 21^st centuries as sources of cultural history and research, files them based on form and content and then makes them available for use.There are about 1 million articles in the collection.-The library contains about one million volumes with about 200,000 dating before 1850. Today, the library is known as a literary and cultural research center concentrated on the period around 1800. Sections of the collection derive from the private estate of the prior ruling ducal houses of Saxe-Weimar and Eisenach.

History…

The History of Library dates back to the year 1522. In 1691 the library was expanded under Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Saxe-Weimar. originally the library was located in three rooms of the royal palace, but was later moved into its own building that became accessible in 1766. It was Duchess Anna Amalia who decided that the 16^th century Green Palace should be restructured for the library. The first floor had a bookroom with two galleries in late Rococo style with a diverse array of collections focused on such areas as history and art. In 1789 Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Christian Gottlob Voigt were appointed to manage the library. By 1832 the library grew to hold a collection of 80,0000 volumes. In the late 19^th century the growth in the amount of collections abated. Eventually by 1969 the house combined with the Central Library of German Classics to eventually form what became known as the Anna Amalia Library. The name derives from Duchess Anna Amalia, its most important patron, since its 300^th anniversary in 1991. A surprising event On September 2, 2004 ocurred where the historical building lit on fire, destroying the upper-level floors and created the need for restoration of the damaged parts of the library.

September 2, 2004 Fire

Building and Rococo Hall...

In 1998 it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization)

The fire of September 2, 2004 was found to be caused by a defective electrical connection that destroyed two attic floors and other parts were damaged from the water to put out the fire. Eventually, the Historical Building with Duchess Anna Amalia Library reopened on October 24, 2007. Today houses book restoration and preservation workshop, the special collections department & the administrative department. The 2^nd gallery of Rococo hall was not reparable and was converted into a reading room. It is a nice place to study maps, manuscripts, sheet music, globes, etc.

The plan to renovate the historical building, which houses the Anna Amalia Library, was decided even before the fire in 2004. Architect, Walther Grunwald who was chosen in 2004 to lead the planning teams and the cost to renovate was estimated to be about 8.4 million Euro with extra expenses coming to a total of about 3.4 million Euro.

The Historical Building