The former Polling monastery library was once the second largest library in Bavaria, after the Munich court library. It belonged to the

Polling Abbey Polling Abbey (german: Kloster Polling) is a former monastery in Polling bei Weilheim, district of Weilheim-Schongau, in Upper Bavaria, Germany. According to legend, the founder was Duke Tassilo III of Bavaria in about 750, but it seems more lik ...

which was dissolved during secularisation in Bavaria. Around 1631, its number of books was still relatively small and mainly from the area of

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

Fridolin Dreßler Fridolin is a German masculine given name, derived from Old High German. Notable people with this name include: *Fridolin of Säckingen, Irish missionary, apostle of the Alamanni and founder of Säckingen Abbey *Fridolin Ambongo Besungu (born 1960) ...

, Ladislaus Buzas, Hermann Wiese: ''Zur Geschichte der Pollinger Bibliothek'', p. 11 The greatest growth rates of books were during the era of provost

Franz Töpsl Franz Töpsl (18 November 1711 – 12 March 1796) was an Augustinian Canon Regular, provost of Polling Abbey, historian and librarian. Life Franz Joachim Joseph Martin Töpsl was born in Munich, Bavaria on the night of 17–18 November 1711. In ...

during the

Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...

. Before provost Töpsel, 20,000 volumes were shelved in the library.Max Biller: ''Pollinger Heimat-Lexikon'', p. 135 A large proportion of the books of 80,000 volumes were given to today's

Bavarian State Library The Bavarian State Library (german: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, abbreviated BSB, called ''Bibliotheca Regia Monacensis'' before 1919) in Munich is the central " Landesbibliothek", i. e. the state library of the Free State of Bavaria, the bigg ...

and the Ingolstadt University Library. In these books were included 653

manuscripts A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...

and 1394

incunabula In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were pro ...

. The impressive library hall is now used for concerts and events. The library was built from 1776 to 1778. The master builder of the library was Matthias Bader, the ceiling fresco was painted by Johann Baader, and the stucco was by Thassilo Zopf. After secularisation, around 1814, the Streicher family bought the building, who used the large hall as storage. During the Second World War about 800 paintings of the

Bavarian State Painting Collections The Bavarian State Painting Collections (german: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen), based in Munich, Germany, oversees artwork held by the Free State of Bavaria. It was established in 1799 as ''Centralgemäldegaleriedirektion''. Artwork includes ...

were stored here, some of them very valuable. In November 1971, members of the Rotary Club of Weilheim founded a club to renovate the library hall and make it available to the public.Max Biller: ''Pollinger Heimat-Lexikon'', pp 139–140 Since 1975, the hall has been regularly used for classical concerts. Several hundred concerts have already been held here.

References

{{Authority control Libraries in Germany Concert halls in Germany Monastic libraries