The Papyrus Collection of the Austrian National Library, also known as the Rainer Collection () and Vienna Papyrus Collection (), is a

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...

collection of the

Austrian National Library The Austrian National Library (german: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) is the largest library in Austria, with more than 12 million items in its various collections. The library is located in the Neue Burg Wing of the Hofburg in center of V ...

Hofburg The Hofburg is the former principal imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty. Located in the centre of Vienna, it was built in the 13th century and expanded several times afterwards. It also served as the imperial winter residence, as Schönbrunn ...

palace in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. It contains around 180,000 objects overall. It is one of the most significant collections in

papyrology Papyrology is the study of manuscripts of ancient literature, correspondence, legal archives, etc., preserved on portable media from antiquity, the most common form of which is papyrus, the principal writing material in the ancient civilizations ...

, containing writings documenting 3 millennia of the

history of Egypt The history of Egypt has been long and wealthy, due to the flow of the Nile River with its fertile banks and delta, as well as the accomplishments of Egypt's native inhabitants and outside influence. Much of Egypt's ancient history was a myster ...

from 1500 BCE–1500 CE: Ancient Egypt, Hellenistic Egypt,

Roman Egypt , conventional_long_name = Roman Egypt , common_name = Egypt , subdivision = Province , nation = the Roman Empire , era = Late antiquity , capital = Alexandria , title_leader = Praefectus Augustalis , image_map = Roman E ...

, and Egypt during Muslim rule. It includes a specialist library of around 19,500 books and journals as well. The Austrian National Library preserves and restores the stored papyri, as well as facilitates scholarly research and publication based on these ancient documents. The core of the collection originates from the private collection of Archduke Rainer, who gave the collection to Emperor

Franz Joseph I of Austria Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the Grand title of the Emperor of Austria, other states of the Habsburg m ...

in 1899. Besides papyri, the collection includes papers, records on

clay tablet In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets (Akkadian ) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age. Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a stylu ...

s, stone tablets, inscribed wood and wax trays, leathers, sheepskins, textiles, and bones, as well as gold, silver and bronze articles with inscriptions. A papyrus museum opened in 1999 which displays a portion of the collection to the public. The Rainer Collection was added to UNESCO's

Memory of the World Programme Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

History

Papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...

is an ancient medium upon which to write popular across the

Mediterranean region In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin (; also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea) is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and wa ...

. It was considerably cheaper to use than inscribing

s; however, it has the disadvantage that moisture would tend to cause papyri to decay over time, meaning the vast majority of papyri have disintegrated or are no longer readable. The main exception to this was in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, where the harsh desert climate preserved papyri for centuries. In the second half of the 19th century, both scholars and local Egyptians realized this, and began to search for old discarded papyri as well as report local papyri caches. In 1878–1879, the Viennese dealer in antiquities purchased recently found papyri from

Faiyum Faiyum ( ar, الفيوم ' , borrowed from cop, ̀Ⲫⲓⲟⲙ or Ⲫⲓⲱⲙ ' from egy, pꜣ ym "the Sea, Lake") is a city in Middle Egypt. Located southwest of Cairo, in the Faiyum Oasis, it is the capital of the modern Faiyum ...

, known as Arsinoe in the

Hellenistic period In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...

. Graf contacted Professor of Oriental History at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

and arranged the shipping of around 10,000 papyri to him. The papyri made their way to Vienna in 1881 and 1882 while awaiting a buyer; at the end of 1883, Archduke Rainer Ferdinand agreed to purchase the papyri. Professor Karabacek managed and processed both the sale and the collection. The collection was initially stored at the ''Österreichischen Museum für Kunst und Industrie'' (the predecessor of the modern Museum of Applied Arts). Archduke Rainer continued to expand the collection with new purchases that Graf arranged, including papyri from digs at

Hermopolis Hermopolis ( grc, Ἑρμούπολις ''Hermoúpolis'' "the City of Hermes", also ''Hermopolis Magna'', ''Hermoû pólis megálẽ'', egy, ḫmnw , Egyptological pronunciation: "Khemenu"; cop, Ϣⲙⲟⲩⲛ ''Shmun''; ar, الأشموني ...

Heracleopolis Magna Heracleopolis Magna ( grc-gre, Μεγάλη Ἡρακλέους πόλις, ''Megálē Herakléous pólis'') and Heracleopolis (, ''Herakleópolis'') and Herakleoupolis (), is the Roman name of the capital of the 20th nome of ancient Upper Eg ...

, and other sites in the Faiyum area such as

Soknopaiou Nesos Soknopaiou Nesos ( grc, Σοκνοπαίου Νῆσος) was an ancient settlement in the Faiyum Oasis (''Egypt''), located a few kilometers north of Lake Qarun (known in antiquity as Lake Moeris). The settlement - known nowadays as Dimeh es-Seba ...

. Rainer gifted the collection to his uncle Emperor

on August 18, 1899 as a birthday present. At Rainer's request, Franz Joseph incorporated them as a special collection at the Imperial and Royal Court Library (now known as the

). The collection was also moved next to the

Josefsplatz Josefsplatz ( en, Joseph's Square) is a public square located at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. Named after Emperor Joseph II, Josefsplatz is considered one of the finest courtyards in Vienna.Schulte-Peevers 2007, p. 359. Description Josef ...

. Additional purchases of mainly

ostracon An ostracon (Greek: ''ostrakon'', plural ''ostraka'') is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeological or epigraphical context, ''ostraca'' refer to sherds or even small pieces of ston ...

were made in 1899 and 1911. In 1920, after the

dissolution of Austria-Hungary The dissolution of Austria-Hungary was a major geopolitical event that occurred as a result of the growth of internal social contradictions and the separation of different parts of Austria-Hungary. The reason for the collapse of the state was Worl ...

, the Imperial and Royal Library became the National Library, and ownership passed to the state of Austria rather than the Imperial family. The papyrus collection moved to new premises at the Palais Friedrich (the modern

Albertina The Albertina is a museum in the Innere Stadt (First District) of Vienna, Austria. It houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and approximately 1 million old master prints, as well ...

museum) in 1921. On March 12, 1945, during the bombing of Vienna, the collection's building was damaged by a bomb. On April 18, 1954, new premises in the rebuilt Albertina were opened to the public. In 1998 the collection and library were relocated to new premises in the wing of the

palace, and in 1999 a new museum section opened that displayed a selection of the collection to the public. After being nominated in 2000, the Rainer Collection was added to UNESCO's

Collection

The main focus of the collection are Greek, Arabic, and Coptic items. The Greek inventory of papyri is the largest, with the era of Ptolemaic Egypt, early

, and later Byzantine Egypt being especially strongly represented as an era when papyri were in common use. The total inventory broken down by language is roughly: *

Egyptian hieroglyphs Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1,00 ...

and

Hieratic Hieratic (; grc, ἱερατικά, hieratiká, priestly) is the name given to a cursive writing system used for Ancient Egyptian and the principal script used to write that language from its development in the third millennium BC until the ris ...

: around 275 objects, 170 of which are papyri. *

Demotic Demotic may refer to: * Demotic Greek, the modern vernacular form of the Greek language * Demotic (Egyptian), an ancient Egyptian script and version of the language * Chữ Nôm, the demotic script for writing Vietnamese See also * * Demos (disa ...

: around 2,000 objects, including 1,551 papyri and 352 ostraca. *

Coptic Coptic may refer to: Afro-Asia * Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya * Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century * Coptic alphabet ...

: around 26,000 objects, including 7,153 papyri, 1,300 parchments, 935 papers, and 770 ostraca. *

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: around 70,000 objects, including around 41,000 papyri, about 3000 parchments, and 12,000 fragments. *

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: around 150 objects, of which 136 are papyri and 11 are parchments. *

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

: around 75,000 objects, including 17,000 papyri, 17,000 papers, and 382 parchments. *

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: around 200 objects. * A small number of other objects with writing or inscriptions in Ethiopic,

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

Pahlavi Pahlavi may refer to: Iranian royalty *Seven Parthian clans, ruling Parthian families during the Sasanian Empire *Pahlavi dynasty, the ruling house of Imperial State of Persia/Iran from 1925 until 1979 **Reza Shah, Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878–1944 ...

, and others.

Directors

* (1899–1904) *

Karl Wessely Karl Wessely (''Carl Wessely''; 27 June 1860, Vienna – 21 November 1931) was an Austrian palaeographer and papyrology, papyrus scholar. He examined manuscripts housed at the Austrian National Library (e.g. Papyrus 3, Uncial 058, Uncial 058, 059, ...

(1904–1922) * (1923–1930) * (1923–1936) * (1936–1942 and 1948–1951) * (1951–1956) *

Herbert Hunger Herbert Hunger (9 December 1914 – 9 July 2000) was an Austrian Byzantinist. Hunger was born and died in Vienna. From 1973 to 1982 he served two consecutive terms as president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Literary works * ''Lexikon ...

(1956–1962) * (1962–1984) * (1984-2005) * (2005–2009) * (since 2009)

Gallery

File:Wien, Papyrusmuseum (45942466311).jpg, Part of the Taruma Book of the Dead (Memphis, Hieratic Script, Ptolemaic Egypt in 3rd century BC) Sesostris' boook of the dead, Papyrusmuseum Wien.jpg, Detail of the Taruma Book of the Dead File:S1034640.JPG, Interior of the museum, showing papyri File:Papyrusmuseum Wien 18.jpg, A papyrus on display Mask of a mummy, Papyrusmuseum Wien 02.jpg, Egyptian

funerary mask A death mask is a likeness (typically in wax or plaster cast) of a person's face after their death, usually made by taking a cast or impression from the corpse. Death masks may be mementos of the dead, or be used for creation of portraits. It ...

File:Wien, Papyrusmuseum (45893150412).jpg, A grave stele, 1st or 2nd century File:Wien, Papyrusmuseum (45893122692).jpg, Portrait of a young girl, from Faiyum, 2nd century Wien, Papyrusmuseum (44126069910).jpg, Fragment of the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

References

External links