thumb|Main building in the Green Palace – Rococo hall – central aisle

The Duchess Anna Amalia Library () in Weimar, Germany, houses a major collection of German literature and historical documents. In 1991, the tricentennial of its opening to the public, the Ducal Library was renamed for Duchess Anna Amalia. Today, the library is a public research library for literature and art history. The main focus is German literature from the Classical and the late Romantic eras. The ducal library was supplied, among others, by the bookseller Hoffmann from Weimar as well as with publications from France and Europe by the Strasbourg publishing house Bauer, Treuttel and Würtz. The library was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Classical Weimar site because of its testimony to the global cultural importance of Weimar during the late 18th and early 19th centuries during the Weimar Classicism movement. restoration of salvaged volumes lasted until 2015.

Contents

The library contains over 1,000,000 items, 150,000 of which are available for open use and borrowing. The research library has approximately 850,000 volumes with collection emphasis on the German literature. Among its special collections is an important Shakespeare collection of approximately 10,000 volumes, as well as a 16th-century Bible connected to Martin Luther.

Building

The main building is the Green Castle (), which had been built between 1562 and 1565. The architect was Nikolaus Gromann.

In 2001, construction began on a new multiple-floor facility to house some 1,000,000 books under the "Square of Democracy" () between the Music University and the Red and Yellow Castle. In its pre-renovation state, the building had structural flaws which endangered many valuable books and the special collections.

The new development is estimated to have cost €24 million and has an area of 6,300 m<sup>2</sup>. The area is divided into upper and lower floors. The new building connects the historical library building with the user areas of the reconstructed Red and Yellow Castle. The grand opening of the new wing took place in February 2005.

History

Anna Amalia, Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, had the building converted into a library in 1761, This includes the undamaged books, the first restored books and the replacement volumes obtained on the international antique book market, from other libraries, or by donation. An online database lists the books the library is still seeking in order to replace volumes it lost.

References

  • Library Goes up in Flames, Destroying Literary Legacy at Deutsche Welle
  • Rare books in German library fire, BBC, 3 September 2004
  • German library fire burns precious books, Associated Press via nbcnews.com, 4 September 2004
  • Literary Treasures Lost in Fire at German Library, The New York Times, 4 September 2004
  • German Library to Reopen, The New York Times, 3 October 2007
  • Muslim Librarians Visit Germany: The Catalogues of the Queen of Sheba, qantara.de, 29 April 2009
  • 360° Flash-Panoramas: 2004: before the fire, 2004: after the fire