The Baden State Library (, BLB) is a large
universal library
A universal library is a library with universal collections. This may be expressed in terms of it containing all existing information, useful information, all books, all works (regardless of format) or even all possible works. This ideal, althoug ...
in
Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...
. Together with the
Württembergische Landesbibliothek
The State Library of Württemberg (german: Württembergische Landesbibliothek or WLB) is a large library in Stuttgart, Germany, which traces its history back to the ducal public library of Württemberg founded in 1765. It holds c. 4 million vol ...
, the BLB is the
legal deposit
Legal deposit is a legal requirement that a person or group submit copies of their publications to a repository, usually a library. The number of copies required varies from country to country. Typically, the national library is the primary reposi ...
and regional library for
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
.
Library Profile
Established around 1500, today the library holds about 2,8 million media items (2021). These include a large collection of medieval manuscripts, music manuscripts, autographs, personal paper and manuscript collections, incunabula, old and rare printed books and historical maps. The modern collections comprise works on all subjects, but with a special focus on regional history and various topics related to
Baden-Wuerttemberg and the
Upper Rhine region. By maintaining these collections, the library contributes to the cultural heritage of the region. By presenting them via its digital collections, it makes this European cultural heritage available to the public.
The BLB is a universally accessible part of the information infrastructure for education and science in Baden-Wuerttemberg. It is under the administrative supervision of the Ministry for Science, Research and Arts of Baden-Wuerttemberg.
As part of its main duties, the library collects and catalogues publications from and about Baden and makes them accessible to the general public. The BLB provides its services not only to schools, universities, and research institutes, but also to organizations and private businesses within the region. With over 500 workstations suited to various learning and work requirements in different areas of the building, the library offers a popular learning environment.
The law on
legal deposit
Legal deposit is a legal requirement that a person or group submit copies of their publications to a repository, usually a library. The number of copies required varies from country to country. Typically, the national library is the primary reposi ...
requires publishers in Baden-Wuerttemberg to submit copies of their publications to the respective state library. This is why the BLB records both printed and electronic media from and about Baden. Together with the WLB, the BLB publishes the ''Landesbibliographie Baden-Württemberg'' and archives websites with references to Baden-Wuerttemberg in the ''Baden-Württembergisches Online-Archiv (BOA)''.
In addition to traditional library services, the BLB focuses on cultural outreach by organizing exhibitions, events, and seminars and by contributing to a number of education programs.
History
The BLB developed from the book collection once belonging to the
margrave
Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the Em ...
s and grand dukes of
Baden
Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine.
History
The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...
. The origin of the BLB can be traced back to the library of the margraves at
Pforzheim
Pforzheim () is a city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany.
It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the nickname "Goldstadt" ("Golden City") ...
around 1500. After the foundation of Karlsruhe in 1715, the ″court library of the margraves of Baden″ was relocated to an annex of the new residence in Karlsruhe (1770). As part of the
secularization
In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses the ...
in Germany, large parts of the libraries of the monasteries in Baden were incorporated in the then grandducal library between 1803 and 1807. This considerably increased the library collections. In 1872, the library was incorporated into the state administration and subordinated to the Ministry of the Interior. Its name changed into ''Großherzogliche Hof- und Landesbibliothek''. In 1873, the library moved to the Grand Duke's ″collection building″ located at the Friedrichsplatz in the center of Karlsruhe. In 1918, the library's name changed once again to its current name ''Badische Landesbibliothek''. As a result of an air raid in 1942, almost the complete holdings (360,000 volumes) and the building of the library were destroyed by fire. As a consequence, the Library was incorporated in the building of the ''Generallandesarchiv Baden-Württemberg''. In 1964, a new building was completed, located at the Nymphengarten. In 1991, the library relocated again into its current building on the Erbprinzenstraße.
Collections
Statistics (2021):
* Conventional media: 2,866,316 (books, magazines, journals: 2,358,193)
Special collections (2021):
* 4,294 Manuscripts
* 5,502 Music manuscripts
* 74,978 Autographs
* 1,369 Incunabula
* 53,778 Maps
* 70,988 Musical scores
In 2010, the BLB began to digitize parts of its special collections, focusing mainly on medieval manuscripts, historical musical scores and printed journals of the 19th century with particular relevance to the regional history. All digital images are available for free online (see th
BLB Digital Collections.
Special Collections
![Nibelungenlied manuscript-c f1r](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Nibelungenlied_manuscript-c_f1r.jpg)
Manuscripts
In addition to the old library of the margraves, the manuscript collection mainly consists of volumes of monastic provenance that came into the possession of the BLB following the secularization at the beginning of the 19th century. Some of the most important acquisitions are the early medieval manuscripts of the
Reichenau monastery
Reichenau Abbey was a Benedictine monastery on Reichenau Island (known in Latin as Augia Dives). It was founded in 724 by the itinerant Saint Pirmin, who is said to have fled Spain ahead of the Moorish invaders, with patronage that included Charl ...
, late Romanesque manuscripts of the
Hochstift Speyer and the German manuscripts of the
Fürstlich Fürstenbergischen Hofbibliothek zu
Donaueschingen, including the famous Manuscript C of the
Nibelungenlied
The ( gmh, Der Nibelunge liet or ), translated as ''The Song of the Nibelungs'', is an epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The is based on an oral tradition of Germani ...
and – since 2018 – the Donaueschinger Wigalois manuscript.
Incunabula
Like the manuscripts, the incunabula (roughly 1,400 in total) were once part of the margraves’ court library or the monastery libraries, those last ones acquired by the court library in the course of secularization. The historical collection of incunabula differs from the rest of the library holdings, as they still have the old pre-war shelf marks. Newly acquired incunabula are marked with the shelfmark system established in 1942, which is based on sequential numbers.
Old Prints
Due to the library's destruction during World War II, the BLB lost nearly its whole collection of printed media in 1942. The current collection holds about 33,000 books printed before 1800, most of the maquired after 1945. A large number of these older prints deal with the history and culture of Baden and the Upper Rhine areas.
Music Collection
The music collection of the BLB is one of the largest in Baden-Wuerttemberg. It includes some medieval music manuscripts, but mostly early modern court music that was once collected in the comital residences of Baden. It also contains various collections of manuscripts and literary legacies of composers and musicians.
Personal paper and manuscript collections
There are more than 200 literary legacies in the BLB. They came from significant personalities of Baden, mostly important writers and musicians, such as
Reinhold Schneider
Reinhold Schneider (Baden-Baden, May 13, 1903 – Freiburg im Breisgau, April 6, 1958) was a German poet who also wrote novels. Initially his works were less religious, but later his poetry had a Christian and specifically Catholic influence ...
,
Johann Peter Hebel
Johann Peter Hebel (10 May 1760 – 22 September 1826) was a German short story writer, dialectal poet, Lutheran theologian and pedagogue, most famous for a collection of Alemannic lyric poems (''Allemannische Gedichte'') and one of Ge ...
or Emil Strauß. Additionally, personal paper and manuscript collections of academics include correspondences with notable figures of German literature, such as
Paul Celan or
Elias Canetti
Elias Canetti (; bg, Елиас Канети; 25 July 1905 – 14 August 1994) was a German-language writer, born in Ruse, Bulgaria to a Sephardic family. They moved to Manchester, England, but his father died in 1912, and his mother took her ...
.
Historical Maps
The BLB possesses large holdings of cartographic material, including an important collection of historical maps. The focus is the cartography of Baden-Wuerttemberg and the Upper Rhine area in the 18th century. The collection also includes a number of rare maps from the 16th century onwards.
References
External links
*
*
Academic libraries in Germany
Deposit libraries
1500s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire
1500 establishments in Europe
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