Exhibition

The Bamberg State Library preserves outstanding examples of the world's cultural heritage, including unique medieval manuscripts, rare early prints and other important documents from bygone times. For conservation reasons, these fragile and sensitive treasures can only rarely be shown in their original form.

Facsimiles, i.e. faithful copies of old books and documents, provide a remedy here. At first glance, they are often indistinguishable from the originals they reproduce. Every detail of the original – the illumination and gilding, the parchment and even the binding – are imitated using modern reproduction techniques.

In order to make selected items from the collection accessible to our visitors, the exhibition shows facsimiles of some famous medieval manuscripts. The Carolingian Lorsch Pharmacopoeia from around 800 and the Bamberg Apocalypse, which was written around 1010 on the monastery island of Reichenau in Lake Constance, have been added to the UNESCO Memory of the World programme. The Ottonian emperors Otto III and Henry II commissioned Reichenau monks to produce richly decorated codices, which were donated as founding gifts to the diocese of Bamberg and other ecclesiastical institutions. Facsimiles of manuscripts that are now in other libraries provide an insight into the development of the Reichenau scriptorium. The Bamberg Psalter from 1220/30, decorated with colorful book illumination and featuring a unique horn-plate binding, is one of the most important works of southern German book art of the High Middle Ages.

The Plowman from Bohemia, printed around 1463, is one of the oldest books published in Bamberg, where the printer Albrecht Pfister had settled already during Johannes Gutenberg's lifetime. A Nuremberg master scribe's book shows the high level the art of beautiful writing had achieved in the 16th century. The farewell letter of Bamberg's mayor Johannes Junius written to his daughter Veronica on 24th July 1628 shortly before his execution, while imprisoned in the so-called Malefizhaus​, provides a harrowing insight into the witch hunts if the early modern period. E. T. A. Hoffmann lived in the city for a few years after the secularization of the Bamberg prince-bishopric; several of his literary and artistic works mirror his experiences in Franconia, including the Bamberg Citizens' Militia.

Information at a glance