Treasures from the Bavarian State Library

Treasures from the Bavarian State Library

The Bavarian State Library in Munich is one of the most important research libraries in the world with collections numbering more than 10,360,000 items. It was established in 1558 by Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria (1528–79) and its collections have been built over the centuries by various donations and acquisitions from the collections of rich bibliophiles like the Fuggers and Hartmann Schedel inter alia. The law requiring that two copies of every work printed in Bavaria be submitted to the library has been in force since 1663. The addition of the court library of the Electorate of the Palatinate brought with 550,000 volumes and 18,600 manuscripts to the Bavarian collection in 1803. To accommodate these growing holdings, a gorgeous classically-styled building was designed by Friedrich von Gärtner (1791–1847), which was completed in 1837. The building was 85% destroyed during the Second World War and although much of the collections were evacuated, 500,000+ volumes were lost. Efforts to restore the building and reorganize its collections were already begun in 1946. Today, the library boasts one of the largest collections of medieval manuscripts in the world and the largest collection of incunabula, books printed before 1500, in addition to various historic documents.
This incredible collection of medieval manuscript is represented here by this sample of ten folios.
1. Initial page “IN”
Mainz Evangeliary, CLM 11019, fol.47r, Mainz, late–9th century

1. Coronation of Henry II
   Sacramentary of Henry II, Clm 4456, fol. 11r, Regensburg, ca. 1014

2. Presentation in the Temple
   Passau Evangelary, Clm 16002, fol. 10v Passau, ca. 1170/80

3. Peter und George
   Codex Aureus of Hohenwart, Clm7384. fol. 4r Regensburg, 11th/12th–13th centuries

4. The Imperial Family
   Breviary of Emperor Frederick III, Cgm 68, fol. 1v und 2r, Vienna, 1475–1480

5. The Swan Knight
   Chronicle of the Princes of Cleves, Cod. gall. 19, fol. 1r, Flanders, late 15th-century

6. Flight into Egypt
   Book of Hours, Clm 23637, fol. 103v/104r, Bruges, ca. 1530

7. Initial Page “B”
   Würzburg Psalter, Würzburg, mid–13th century

8. Presentation of Mary – Joseph’s Traca
   Passau Evangelary, Clm 16002, fol. 10v Passau, ca. 1170/80

9. John the Evangelist
   Gospels of Otto III, Reichenau, before 1000