[MSN] Germany's Historic Anna Amalia Library Reopens After Fire

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Germany's Historic Anna Amalia Library Reopens After Fire 
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  Restored to its former
glory:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2831391,00.html  


Photos:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2831391,00.html 


The restoration of Germany's Dutchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar has been
completed three years after it was damaged by fire. The library, a UNESCO
World Heritage site, reopens to the public on Wednesday, Oct. 24.

The 2004 blaze destroyed 37 paintings and 50,000 books, all of them hundreds
of years old. It also revived Germany's trauma over the loss of
irreplaceable archives and libraries to bombs during World War II. 

The fire was caused by an electrical malfunction. 

When the library reopens Wednesday, it will have 60,000 of its original
volumes, said director Michael Knoche. Thousands more are still being
repaired. Restoration work is expected to continue until 2015.

Goethe's literary treasures


Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  Fire
destroyed 50,000 historic books
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2831391,00.html 

The restoration has cost 12.8 million euros ($18.2 million) as workers have
painstakingly restored not only the books, but the building itself,
including the library's famous Rococo room. The reading room is a lofty
gilded gallery with busts of poets, paintings and bookcases set against
white walls.

"It has always been more than just a library," said Hellmut Seemann, head of
the foundation managing the library, saying visitors regarded it as a shrine
to German classicism.


Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  An
impressive collection
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2831391,00.html 

Built in 1691, the library specializes in German literature between 1750 and
1850 and houses some one million books, including many rare first-editions
and the largest collection of Faust by Johann Wolfgang Goethe. Goethe, one
of Germany's best-known authors, worked as a librarian at the Anna Amalia.

Weimar, a city about 250 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of Berlin in the
eastern German state of Thuringia, is the region's cultural center. It also
served as the backdrop for the German republic, which was declared there in
1919.

Saving history


Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  German
classical culture lives on in the library
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2831391,00.html 

On the day of the fire, as flames licked at the library's roof, people
formed a human chain to save as many books as possible. They salvaged some
6,000 historical works, including a 1543 Martin Luther.

Since then, some 22,000 German firms and people donated funds to repair the
Anna Amalia, or to pay to repair books or buy replacements. Library staff
estimates that two of every three of the lost books can be bought from other
collections or in auctions.


Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  A UNESCO
world heritage site
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2831391,00.html

"It was the worst library fire in Germany since the War," said Jens Goebel,
culture minister of Thuringia, at the start of a week of celebrations to
mark the opening.

The official reopening will be presided over by German President Horst
Köhler.


 
DW staff (th)