Posted September 10, 2004.

Weimar’s Anna Amalia Library Assesses Its Loss

Some 40,000 volumes damaged in a fire at the Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar, Germany, September 2 have been transported to the Book Preservation Center in Leipzig for deep-freezing and eventual restoration. The center’s director Manfred Anders noted that the first volumes brought in were “only wet with slight fire damage,” but by September 8, the facility had received some 37.2 tons of severely burned or waterlogged books.

Officials have ruled out arson as the cause and strongly suspect faulty electrical equipment dating back to the communist era, the September 8 Thüringer Allegemeine reported. Fire investigators discovered a groove in the roof beam that could have been made by an electrical cable that was smoldering for hours before smoke from the fire was detected. Workers are constructing a temporary roof to replace the damaged area.

Among the major losses were the library’s collection of original musical scores by the Duchess Anna Amalia, who established the library and who with her son Duke Carl August, made Weimar one of 18th-century Europe’s intellectual centers. At least 33 rococo-era paintings were also destroyed in the blaze, including a portrait of the duchess painted by Johann Friedrich Lörber between 1758 and 1760. A death mask of the German poet Friedrich Schiller was another casualty.

German Secretary of State for Cultural Affairs Christina Weiss characterized the fire as a “national disaster” and an “irreparable loss of a part of our world cultural heritage.” Weiss offered to release 4 million euros (U.S. $4.8 million) for immediate relief.

Offers of help have come from Germany and across the globe. Prime Minister of Thüringia Dieter Althaus set up a special fund, which—with contributions promised from such notables as retired Director of the Herzog August Library Peter Raabe and former Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg Lothar Späth—has swelled to several hundred thousand euros. The J. Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles has offered aid in restoring the books.

Hellmut Seemann, president of the Weimar Classics Foundation that administers the library, has asked the world library community for contributions and support in repairing the damaged books and artworks. Details are available (in German) on the library’s website.

Posted September 10, 2004.