
The State Library of Württemberg ( or WLB) is a large library in
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
, Germany, which traces its history back to the ducal public library of
Württemberg
Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart.
Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...
founded in 1765. It holds about 4 million volumes and is the fourth-largest library in the state of
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, 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 i ...
(after the university libraries of
Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...
,
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...
and
Tübingen
Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...
). The WLB owns an important collection of medieval manuscripts, as well as one of the largest Bible collections in the world.
The WLB is one of two state libraries of Baden-Württemberg, the other being the
Badische Landesbibliothek (BLB) at Karlsruhe. One of the library's main purposes is to archive written literature from and about the Regierungsbezirk (state subdivision) Tübingen and Regierungsbezirk Stuttgart (i.e. roughly the former land of
Württemberg
Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart.
Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...
). The library is entitled to a
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 reposit ...
of every work published in Baden-Württemberg before 1964.
The WLB has also been part of the Stuttgart University library system since 1967. As an academic library, it is responsible for the humanities sections of the
University of Stuttgart
The University of Stuttgart () is a research university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized into 10 faculties. It is one of the oldest technical universities in Germany with programs in civil, mechanical, ind ...
, as well as for the Stuttgart College of Music and the Stuttgart Academy of Arts.
History
The library was founded by
Karl Eugen, Duke of Württemberg as a public ducal library (''Herzogliche Öffentliche Bibliothek'') in
Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Ludisburg'') is a Cities of Germany, city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg (district), Lu ...
, then state capital of Württemberg, on the occasion of his 37th birthday on 11 February 1765. The library was relocated to the Stuttgart ''Herrenhaus'' in 1777. Karl Eugen acted as the library director until his death, trying to establish one of Germany's leading libraries. To achieve this goal, he merged existing ducal collections with a collection he bought from his first librarian, Joseph Uriot, creating a collection of well over 10,000 volumes. The ducal collections of antiquities and coins were also added to the library collection. Karl Eugen also bought important collections for his library (including the bible collections of preacher
Josias Lorck, Copenhagen, and of archdeacon Georg Wolfgang Panzer, Nuremberg). With the right of legal deposit of new books transferred from the government library ''Bibliothek des Regierungsrats'' to the new public library and the incorporation of many state-run administration libraries from all over the country, the collections grew quickly. At Karl Eugen's death, the library held 100,000 volumes.
While his successors were not as interested in books as he had been, the library still grew continuously, e.g., by incorporating books from monasteries secularized in 1803. Most of the monasterial collections, however, were given to the Royal Library (''Königliche Handbibliothek''), founded by King
Frederick I in 1810. This old-type court library (since 1886: ''Königliche Hofbibliothek'') was only incorporated to the collections of the public library much later.
In 1820, the library moved to the ''Invalidenhaus'', a former military housing complex in Stuttgart. At nearly the same location, a new building was erected from 1878 to 1886. At this time, the library was renamed ''Königliche Landesbibliothek'' (Royal State Library). After the end of the monarchy, the institution was again renamed and gained its current name ''Württembergische Landesbibliothek''.
The library was nearly completely destroyed in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. The most valuable items had already been stored at a safe place outside Stuttgart, but approximately half of the collection (over 400,000 volumes) was lost in the fire that followed an
air raid on 12–13 December 1944. The losses included all literature after 1930, many complete thematic sections, many newspapers and magazines and most of the former Court Library. Of the buildings, only an administrative building (containing the catalogs) survived.
After the war, the library tried to fill the gaps in its collection. Regional publishing houses tried to help achieve this goal by donating large numbers of books to WLB.
Horst Linde designed a new library building that opened at the former location on 3 August 1970.
Special collections

*Manuscripts Collection, holding over 15,000 manuscripts. The last major acquisition were 700 manuscripts from the collections of the princely library of
Donaueschingen, funded by the state of Baden-Württemberg. This transaction included the manuscripts of the
Zimmern Chronicle and other pre-eminent works of Baden-Württemberg history.
*Old and Rare Prints, with over 7,000 incunabula, a small collection of rare book covers, rare books from the 16th to 19th centuries, and remnants from the former Württemberg court library. The
incunabula
An incunable or incunabulum (: incunables or incunabula, respectively) is a book, pamphlet, or broadside (printing), broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. The specific date is essentiall ...
collection is one of the largest in the world.
*
Library of Contemporary History, with c. 350,000 volumes from 1914 until today
*Bible Collection, with more than 20,000 printed Bibles, including a
Gutenberg Bible
The Gutenberg Bible, also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42, was the earliest major book printed in Europe using mass-produced metal movable type. It marked the start of the "Printing Revolution, Gutenberg Revolution" an ...
(bought in 1978) and the only complete copy (one of three surviving) of
William Tyndale
William Tyndale (; sometimes spelled ''Tynsdale'', ''Tindall'', ''Tindill'', ''Tyndall''; – October 1536) was an English Biblical scholar and linguist who became a leading figure in the Protestantism, Protestant Reformation in the year ...
's English Bible. The WLB bible collection is considered by many to be one of the most important in the world, only second to the
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
's collection.
*Music Collection, including many manuscripts and musical estates
*Map and Prints, holding c. 136,000 maps, c. 120,000 portraits, mainly of regional personalities, and c. 31,500 postcards
*Dance and Ballet Collection, c. 2,700 volumes on the history of dance and ballet
*Hölderlin Archive, including manuscripts and first editions of
Friedrich Hölderlin
Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (, ; ; 20 March 1770 – 7 June 1843) was a Germans, German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of German Romanticis ...
's works; editor of the International Hölderlin Bibliography
*Stefan George Archive, including
Stefan George's literary estate and editions of his work
*Former Library of the State Crafts and Trade Office (Landesgewerbeamt)
Inventory
, the library held approximately 6.1 million media, including:
* over 4 million books
* 15,555 manuscripts
* 7,093 incunabula
* 180,606 autographs
* 485,325 microfiches and microfilms
* 156,904 maps and atlases
* 160,945 pamphlets
* 584,205 photographs
* 147,748 military mail letters
* 73,861 volumes of sheet music
* 48,388 sound recordings and image carrier (av-materials)
* several electronic databases
References
* ''Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart. Ein Führer durch ihre Geschichte und ihre Sammlungen''. Stuttgart: WLB (1990) (library guide)
* Felix Heinzer: ''Württemberg State Library''. In: David H. Stam (ed.): International Dictionary of Library Histories. Chicago and London: Fitzroy Dearborn (2001) , vol. 2, pp. 936–938
External links
* (with an English menu, but most content only available in German)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wurttembergische Landesbibliothek
Libraries in Stuttgart
1765 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire
Government buildings completed in 1970
Library buildings completed in 1970
Academic libraries in Germany
Deposit libraries
18th-century establishments in Württemberg
Libraries established in 1765