Anna Amalia Library by loisl
The Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar, Thuringia, Germany houses a major collection of German literature and historical documents. The library contains:1,000,000 books
2,000 medieval and early modern manuscripts
600 ancestral registers
10,000 maps
4,000 musical scripts
The research library today has approximately 850,000 volumes with collection emphasis on the German literature. Among its special collections is an important Shakespeare collection of approximately 10,000 volumes, as well as a 16th century Bible connected to Martin Luther.
Part of the collection was burned in a fire on September 2, 2004, which destroyed 30,000 irreplaceable volumes, with another 20,000 severely damaged. However, some 6,000 historical works were saved, including a 1534 Lutheran Bible and a collection of Alexander von Humboldt's papers, by being passed hand-over-hand out of the building.
Anna Amalia Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (October 24, 1739?April 10, 1807) was an influential cultural force in Weimar, Germany in the 18th century.
The daughter of Karl I, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, she was born at Wolfenbüttel and married Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Weimar in 1756. Ernest died in 1758, leaving her regent for their infant son, Carl August.
During Carl August's protracted minority she administered the affairs of the duchy with notable prudence, strengthening its resources and improving its position in spite of the troubles of the Seven Years' War.
As a patron of the arts and literature, she attracted to Weimar many of the most eminent men in Germany, including Johann Gottfried Herder, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller. She hired Christoph Martin Wieland, a poet and translator of William Shakespeare, to tutor her son. She also established the Duchess Anna Amalia Library.
Anna Amalia was also a notable composer; among her significant works is a Singspiel called Erwin und Elmire (1776), basing her musical on a text by Goethe.