Library Hall Kulissenbibliothek

Welcome to the knowledge cosmos of the Baroque: Anyone who enters the quiet majesty of our Library Hall Kulissenbibliothek on creaking floorboards is immediately surrounded by the world knowledge of early modern times. Like backdrops in a baroque theatre, the original bookshelves protrude into the room and house around 50,000 books from all fields of knowledge. Behind inconspicuous spines of books are amazing treasures such as the first German Bible printed in America.

At the end of the 17th century the library of the orphanage was founded as one of the first public libraries in Germany. The library grew so rapidly, above all through donations, book exchanges and its own publishing products, that a few years later it was comparable with important German university libraries. In 1728 it was given its own building, which is considered the oldest preserved secular library building in Germany. Not only recently has the library been visited by guests and researchers from all over the world: Albrecht von Haller, Johann Joachim Winckelmann and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe already admired its bibliophilic treasures. We will put together a selection for you in various cabinet exhibitions in the former reading room of the library.