The Berlin State Library (German: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin; colloquially Stabi) is a universal library in Berlin, Germany and a property of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. It is one of the largest libraries in Europe, and one of the most important academic research libraries in the German-speaking world.[2] It collects texts, media and cultural works from all fields in all languages, from all time periods and all countries of the world, which are of interest for academic and research purposes. Among the more famous items in its collection are the oldest biblical illustrations, in the fifth-century Quedlinburg Itala fragment, a Gutenberg Bible, the main autograph collection of Goethe, the world's largest collection of Johann Sebastian Bach's and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's manuscripts, and the original score of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.

History

The history of the Berlin State Library closely parallels that of German history. It has lived through creation, neglect, expansion, war damage, division, unification and re-creation like few other libraries.

Library of Kings

In the early period, the fortunes of the State Library rose and fell on royal whims. In 1658 Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg decreed that his private books be organized, cataloged and made available to the public. His library opened in 1661 at Cölln as the "Library of the Elector" (German: Churfürstliche Bibliothek zu Cölln an der Spree). In 1699, Frederick I more than doubled the collection, extended opening hours and introduced the first Prussian legal deposit law. In 1701 it was renamed the "Royal Library" (German: Königliche Bibliothek) upon Frederick I's accession as first King of Prussia. Frederick William I then cancelled the acquisition budget in 1722 and gave away the valuable scientific collection to the Prussian Academy of Sciences in 1735. Frederick the Great also cared little for the library at first, preferring instead his own literature in the French language. However, in 1770 he granted the library substantial assets and it made several important acquisitions. To avoid the problems caused by its dependence on the crown, Frederick the Great also granted the library considerable autonomy.

Legacies of the Past

Many important items from the original collection are now located in Poland and territories of the former Soviet Union - declared as war reparations, sometimes controversially - such as the Berlinka Art Collection. The original score of Beethoven's 8th Symphony is a starker example of division: while the first, second and fourth movements are in Berlin, the third is kept in Kraków. Conversely, it is estimated that about 10,000 volumes and 9,000 other items in the Berlin State Library are there as a result of Nazi plunder. Repatriation and self-criticism about these materials suffered from neglect, so in 2005 the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation established the Center for Provenance Research to speed up the process. Sometimes, however, the past cannot be mended. In 2008 a Library user found an encyclopedia entitled Religion in History and the Present Day with a bookplate indicating it once belonged to a Jewish theologian. Library staff managed to find his widow in Israel, but she wrote back: "I appreciate your offer to return this book to me, but I have no use for it now."

The Collection

• More than 11 million books
• More than 200,000 rare books
• 4,442 incunabula
• 18,300 occidental manuscripts (including parts of the Nibelungenlied)
• 42,170 oriental manuscripts (including early Ming block prints)
• 250,000 autographs (including Lessing, Goethe, Kleist)
• 66,350 music autographs
• 1,400 estate archives (including the Mendelssohn family)
• 460,000 editions of sheet music
• 1.1 million maps, atlases and globes (including the world's largest bound atlas)
• 38,000 subscription periodicals and monographic series
• 180,000 early newspaper volumes
• 22,900 printed and magazines
• 24,400 licensed electronic newspapers
• 4,700 databases
• 2.3 million microfiches and microfilms
• 13.5 million images at the Prussian Heritage Image Archive

Among the library’s most precious treasures are the Psalter of Ludwig the German (German: Psalter Ludwigs des Deutschen) dating from the 9th century and an elaborately adorned copy of the Gutenberg Bible. The oldest handwritten book in the collection is a Coptic codex of the biblical Book of Proverbs dating from the 3rd century; the oldest printed book is an 8th-century Buddhist text from Japan, the Hyakumantó Darani.

The library also has an extensive collection of important music manuscripts, including 80% of all the autographs of Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the largest collection in the world. Famous examples include Bach's Mass in B Minor, the St. Matthew and St. John Passions, and nearly all of Mozart's operas. In addition to Ludwig van Beethoven's 4th, 5th, and 8th Symphonies, the Library also holds the autograph score, autograph leaves, and historic records of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, which was added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 2001.

Other notable items are a 1491 Map of Germany by Nikolaus von Kues, the Atlas of The Great Elector (German: Atlas des Großen Kurfürsten), the Jahangir-Album from around 1600, and the largest Hebrew Bible and the largest parchment Torah scroll in the world.