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48-671: The Berlin State Library (German: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin ; officially abbreviated as SBB , colloquially Stabi ) is a universal library in Berlin, Germany and a property of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation ( German : Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz ). Founded in 1661, it is among the largest libraries in Europe, and one of the most important academic research libraries in

96-602: A Memorial in memory of the burning of books by Micha Ullman consisting of a glass plate set into the cobblestones, gives a view of a group of empty bookcases large enough to hold all 20,000 burned books; its purpose is to commemorate the book burning. Furthermore, a line of Heinrich Heine from his play, Almansor (1821), is engraved on a plaque inset in the square: "Das war ein Vorspiel nur, dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen." (in English: "That

144-439: A Library which is erected for the public benefit, ought to be universal; but which it can never be, unlesse it comprehend all the principal authors, that have written upon the great diversity of particular subjects, and chiefly upon all the arts and sciences; [...] For certainly there is nothing which renders a Library more recommendable, then when every man findes in it that which he is in search of ... Science fiction has used

192-711: A grand new building complex on the Kulturforum was constructed near the Berlin Wall , just 1.5 km (0.93 mi) away from the library in East Berlin . After German Reunification , the two institutions were formally reunited in 1992. The new West Berlin building and the original East Berlin building became "one library with two homes" and the old State Library was reborn as the Berlin State Library . From 2000 until 2012 Berlin State Library

240-777: A green area to the east and an open area to the west of the State Opera building, which it surrounds (hence its prewar name). It is bounded to the east by the Prinzessinnenpalais , to the west by the Alte Bibliothek and the Old Palace , and to the southeast by St. Hedwig's Cathedral , the first Catholic church built in Prussia after the Reformation . Parts of the fortification of Berlin built in

288-455: A non-universal collections policy. As a phrase, the "universal library" can be traced back to the naturalist Conrad Gessner 's Bibliotheca universalis of 1545. In the 17th century, the ideal of universality continued to be attractive. The French librarian Gabriel Naudé wrote: And therefore I shall ever think it extremely necessary, to collect for this purpose all sorts of books, (under such precautions, yet, as I shall establish) seeing

336-635: A single semi-universal library. With the advent of cheap widely available digital storage, the ideal of universality, although still nearly impossible to attain, has become closer to being feasible. Many projects are now attempting to collect a section of human knowledge into one database. These projects vary in breadth and scope, and none are complete. Examples include digitization projects such as Project Gutenberg and Carnegie-Mellon 's Universal library , digital libraries which are using book scanning to collect public domain works; The European Library , an integrated catalog for Europe's national libraries;

384-516: A starring role in Wim Wenders ' Wings of Desire . Two angels, the stars of the film, read the thoughts of the library's patrons. Universal library The Library of Alexandria is generally regarded as the first library approaching universality, although this idea may be more mythical than real. It is estimated that at one time, this library contained between 30 and 70 percent of all works in existence. The re-founded modern library has

432-552: 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 . As such, repatriation and self-criticism about these materials became controversial issues, so in 2005 the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation established

480-566: Is digitizing its holdings and offers digitized newspapers for public access via the Web through their "newspaper information system" ZEFYS, or Zeitungsinformationssystem . ZEFYS "currently provides total of 281990 issues from 192 historical newspapers from Germany and foreign newspapers in german." 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. In

528-616: Is one of 12 libraries and archives with significant holdings of historical documents which form the Allianz Schriftliches Kulturgut Erhalten (DE) (English: Alliance to Preserve Written Cultural Heritage) . This alliance sets itself as main task raising the consciousness of the importance to preserve the century-old cultural heritage both by securing the physical integrity of the objects in question as well as making them available in digitized form, thus preventing their deterioration by use. The SBB itself

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576-630: The Allied zones of occupation , the library staff had scattered or been killed, and 700,000 volumes had been either destroyed or lost. With the formal dissolution of the State of Prussia in 1947, support for the library ended and the Prussian State Library ceased to exist. After 1945, parts of the collection that had been hidden in what became the Soviet occupation zone were returned to

624-735: The Center for Provenance Research to resolve the problems. For example, 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 State Library operates from two major public sites, Haus Unter Den Linden and Haus Potsdamer Straße , called

672-577: The National Socialist German Students' League , Sturmabteilung "brownshirts" and Hitler Youth groups at the instigation of the Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels . The Nazis burned over 20,000 books – mostly from the neighboring University, not the State library itself – including works by Thomas Mann , Erich Maria Remarque , Heinrich Heine , Karl Marx and many others. Today a glass plate set into

720-606: The Opernplatz ) is a public square in the central Mitte district of Berlin , the capital of Germany . Following World War II , the square was renamed after August Bebel , a founder of the Social Democratic Party of Germany in the 19th century. The square is located on the south side of the Unter den Linden boulevard, a major east-west thoroughfare that runs through Berlin's city center . It consists of

768-682: The Psalter of Louis the German 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

816-668: The Wikimedia Foundation , which, using the Wiki system, is attempting to collect the breadth of important human knowledge under various open content projects such as Misplaced Pages and Wiktionary ; and some shadow libraries . However, many technical and legal problems remain for the dissemination of all possible knowledge on the Internet. Current barriers to the construction of a universal digital library include: Bebelplatz The Bebelplatz (formerly and colloquially

864-535: The "Library in Two Homes". There are additional subsidiary locations for newspapers, magazines, and archives not open to the public. The original main building was built between 1908 and 1913 by the Prussian Construction and Financial Directorate of Berlin , then responsible for public constructions in the city. The Neo Baroque design is by popular Wilhelmine court architect Ernst von Ihne and

912-479: The Bebelplatz, giving a view of empty bookcases, commemorates the event. After an Allied bomb hit the Unter den Linden building in 1941, the various holdings (consisting of some 3 million volumes and over 7,400 incunabula ) were evacuated to 30 monasteries, castles, and abandoned mines around Germany. By the end of the war, the main building was severely damaged, the valuable collections were distributed across

960-650: 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. With new resources and authority, construction began on a Royal Library building on the Bebelplatz in the center of Berlin. Built between 1775 and 1785 by Georg Christian Unger to plans by Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach , it

1008-472: The German-speaking world. It collects texts, media and cultural works from all fields across many languages, from all time periods and all countries of the world, and offer them for academic and research purposes. Prominent items in its collection include the oldest biblical illustrations in the fifth-century Quedlinburg Itala fragment , a Gutenberg Bible , the main autograph collection of Goethe ,

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1056-511: The SBB is responsible "for the maintenance and further development of the ZDB", the central periodicals database. "The ZDB actually contains more than 1.8 million bibliographic records of serials from the 16th century onward, from all countries, in all languages, held in 3700 German and Austrian libraries, with 15.6 million holdings information. It does not contain contents, i. e. journal articles." The SBB

1104-636: The active support of the Emergency Association of German Sciences (after 1930, the German Research Foundation ). The Nazi period severely damaged the institution through political intimidation, employee dismissals, restrictions on foreign acquisitions and the effects of World War II . On 10 May 1933 a book burning ceremony was held at the Bebelplatz by members of the Deutsche Studentenschaft ,

1152-630: The aftermath of the Thirty Years' War (the baroque Berlin Fortress ) were later integrated into the boulevard Unter den Linden when the fortifications had become useless through the advance of artillery pieces. The site of the fortifications is visible until today as there are no linden trees on this stretch up to the Berlin Palace on the Spree river island itself. The avenue of trees in

1200-535: 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

1248-616: The collection that had been in the French occupation zone , mainly at Beuron Archabbey , were gathered to the University of Tübingen . In 1962 the Federal Republic passed a law giving administrative responsibility for all these collections to Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and endowed it with State funding. During the 1960s, the various stocks, services and personnel began to be relocated to West Berlin . To house it all,

1296-627: The collection wound up in the American occupation zone, including a cache of 1.5 million volumes hidden in a potash mine near Hattorf , and was moved to the University of Marburg in 1946. This collection first opened to the public as the Hessian Library (German: Hessische Bibliothek ) and in 1949, as the last lost stores arrived, it was renamed the West German Library (German: Westdeutsche Bibliothek ). Those parts of

1344-537: The device of a library which is universal in the sense that it not only contains all existing written works, but all possible written works. This idea appeared in Kurd Lasswitz 's 1901 story "The Universal Library" and Borges 's essay "The Total Library" before its more famous expression in Borges's story " The Library of Babel ". Such a library, however, would be as useless as it would be complete. A similar idea

1392-503: The direction of the Brandenburg Gate begins where it once began outside the fortifications. The square, then called Platz am Opernhaus (i.e. square at the opera house), was laid out between 1741 and 1743 under the rule of King Frederick II of Prussia . Frederick "the Great" had planned a much larger Forum Fridericianum , but his distant cousin, Frederick William, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt , refused to sell his palace,

1440-505: 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

1488-473: The end of World War II. After 11 years of construction, it was finally dedicated by Federal President Walter Scheel and opened to the public in 1978. It was renovated from 1999 to 2001. The building is currently being further redeveloped into a modern research library as a companion to the Haus Unter den Linden and will house the collection from 1946 onwards. Among the library's most precious treasures are

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1536-511: 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

1584-621: The nationalist German Student Association , thus stealing a march on the National Socialist German Students' League . The assembly of the books had started on the sixth, when students dragged the contents of the Institute for the Science of Sexuality library into the square. At the Student Association's invitation Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels held an inflammatory speech prior to the burning. Besides other spectators, it

1632-588: The occasion of his 80th birthday. The buildings surrounding the square were subsequently largely destroyed in World War II by air raids and the Battle of Berlin . The ensemble was restored in the 1950s, and the square was renamed on 31 August 1947 as Bebelplatz. The Bebelplatz is known as the site of one of the infamous Nazi book burning ceremonies held in the evening of 10 May 1933 in many German university cities. The book burnings were initiated and hosted by

1680-511: The predecessor of today's Old Palace , for the purpose of demolition. So the king felt compelled to take this house, which was in the middle of his plans, into consideration and to scale these down significantly. In return, however, he forced his cousin to give up his garden and some outbuildings, whereupon the Royal Library was built, which is directly adjacent to the back of the margravial house. The Opernplatz (today Bebelplatz), which

1728-408: The present, to provide information on it, to make it accessible to the public and to preserve it for future generations." This creates a "distributed" national library, in which each library is responsible for a given period, of which the SBB covers 1871–1912 for regular prints, 1801–1912 for maps and newspapers, and 1801–1945 for musical scores. Within the cooperation of German and Austrian libraries,

1776-495: The ruins of the old dome. The central location is now the historical research library housing the collection up to and including 1945. This is the newer building in the Kulturforum on Potsdamer Straße in West Berlin, designed by Hans Scharoun with substantial participation by Edgar Wisniewski . Construction began in 1967 to house those parts of the library's evacuated holdings from the western Allied occupation zones at

1824-581: The war-damaged Unter den Linden building in East Berlin . It first opened in 1946 as the Public Scientific Library (German: Öffentliche Wissenschaftliche Bibliothek ). When further restoration work was completed in 1955, the library was renamed the German State Library (German: Deutsche Staatsbibliothek ). The great domed reading room, however, remained a ruin in the center of the building. A larger proportion of

1872-542: 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 . The SBB is one of six libraries forming the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sammlung Deutscher Drucke (AG SDD) which "collaborate to build a comprehensive collection of printed literature published in German-speaking countries from the beginning of letterpress printing to

1920-542: Was a bit cramped as a result, has survived almost unchanged: State Opera , St. Hedwig's Cathedral , the Old Library Building and the Palace of Prince Henry , the king's brother, today the main building of Humboldt University , giving the square an almost complete surround of 18th-century buildings. On 12 August 1910, it was renamed for Emperor Francis Joseph I of Austria ( Kaiser-Franz-Josef-Platz ) on

1968-546: Was a planet called Memory Alpha, (from the Star Trek episode " The Lights of Zetar ") which was the Federation 's "storehouse of computer databases containing all cultural history and scientific data it has acquired.". It has been commented that the Internet already approaches this state. In Discworld , Terry Pratchett 's fantasy world, all libraries in the multiverse are connected in "L-space", effectively creating

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2016-607: 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. Several notable scholars have held positions at the library, among them: The western library played

2064-544: Was attended by members of the Nazi Students' League, the SA ("brownshirts"), SS and Hitler Youth groups. They burned around 20,000 books, including works by Heinrich Mann , Erich Maria Remarque , Heinrich Heine , Karl Marx , Albert Einstein and many other authors. Erich Kästner , whose books were also among those burned, was present at the scene and described it with bitter irony in his diary. The Empty Library ,

2112-491: Was further adapted by Alexander Baerwald , who was in charge of the construction management. In front of the building is an equestrian statue of Frederick the Great . The building was 40% damaged during World War II , and after the division of Berlin wound up in East Berlin . After delays and cost overruns, a 15 year restoration project was finally completed in January 2021, including a new translucent central reading room on

2160-564: Was nicknamed the Kommode ( Chest of drawers ) after its Baroque design. The collection then underwent nearly continuous improvement and expansion. By 1905 it had become the largest and most influential repository of materials in the German language, and at 1.2 million books one of the largest libraries in the world. The Bebelplatz building housed the library until 1914, when the headquarters moved into new, even larger premises on Unter den Linden , designed by court architect Ernst von Ihne . This

2208-410: Was only a prelude; where they burn books, they will in the end also burn people"). Students at Humboldt University hold a book sale in the square every year to mark the anniversary. In 2006, an exhibition of " United Buddy Bears " was held in the square, for the third time in Berlin. The exhibition consisted of more than 180 bear sculptures, each 2 meters (6 ft 7 in) in height and designed by

2256-561: Was refurbished by German architect HG Merz . The destroyed reading room, the core of the building, was replaced by a glass cube. 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

2304-665: Was the height of the library's development before the First World War . Today the old Royal building houses the Faculty of Law of Humboldt University . At the founding of the Weimar Republic the Royal Library was renamed the "Prussian State Library" (German: Preußische Staatsbibliothek – Preussischer Staatsbibliothek ). After 1919, economic effects of war and inflation on the library were mitigated through

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