Projects of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar are funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Free State of Thuringia, represented by the State Chancellery of Thuringia, Department of Culture and the Arts.
The conference was organized by the Research Centre for European Classicism, and supported by the Johann Gottfried Herder-Forschungsrat (Commission for Language and Literature). It examined a unique region of Central Europe nowadays belonging to the state territories of Ukraine and Romania and representing the historical and cultural diversity in Eastern Europe. What function do constructions of ‘the Classical’ have in such a region that had to translate, mediate, and faced several cultures and literatures? Chernivtsi and Bukovina both represent the past of the Habsburg monarchy as well as the Age of Extremes and its Romanian, Soviet and Ukrainian histories, the aftermath of which is still tangible at present.
The conference was held in a hybrid format in the Book Cube of the library.
Due to Russia's war of aggression, the 2022 meeting was moved from Ukraine to Eastern Europe. The three-day meeting, which took place in Weimar for the first time, was dedicated to exchanges between Ukrainian and German writers. A joint event organised by Kulturallmende gUG and the Klassik Stiftung Weimar/Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek.
Short colloquium on the exhibition openings in the historic library building, with lectures by Thomas Kaufmann (Göttingen), Elke Anna Werner (Mainz) and Jörg Paulus (Weimar).
The Weimar Library Hall was built in 1766 in the Rococo style. However, today it presents itself in a form that was only established in the first half of the 19th century: with busts, paintings, raised shelves, closed windows and other alterations.
The public working discussion was held in memory of Jürgen Beyer (1941–2021).
As part of the Cranach 2021 project, the Klassik Stiftung Weimar is redesigning the exhibition areas and foyer of the Historic Library of the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek. In addition to the famous Rococo Hall, visitors will be able to view an exhibition on Lucas Cranach, The Elder and the art of the Reformation. To keep the public informed about our ideas and plans, a public meeting was held on 24 October 2019. The project was introduced the evening before by Prof. Dr. Thomas Kaufmann (University of Göttingen) with a presentation on Cranach’s modelling of the Lutheran image.
The goal of the colloquium was to shed light on the subject from various perspectives and to present a selection of some of the salvaged and artistically designed objects.
The library scholar Reinhard Laube equated cultural presentation as a matter of perspective, and Roland Krischke, director of the Lindenau Museum in Altenburg, introduced the exhibition from an art-historical angle. Birgit Recki, professor at the University of Hamburg, gave a presentation entitled “In the beginning there was fire”, and Ulrike Hähner, professor at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hildesheim, examined the images from a conservation- and restoration-scientific perspective.
The Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek and the MWW Research Association jointly hosted the colloquium Collecting - Researching - Knowing which explored perspectives of studying, investigating and presenting collection in two sections.
Based on examples of individual specimens and collections, the section titled "Knowledge of Collections" examined the theoretical and practical challenges of studying and presenting the structural, thematic, social and historical dimensions of collections. The second section "Researching in Collections" highlighted several projects by the MWW Research Association which are applying research methods that increasingly emphasise collection dynamics, contexts and practices.
For centuries the size and sophistication of a library’s collection served as the benchmark of its reputation. “Collection building” was arguably a research librarian’s noblest task. Today, in view of the ubiquity of digital publications, it has become necessary to redefine the library’s task of collecting. Does the concept of collecting in the digital age make sense anymore? Is conservatory collecting still a task that libraries should pursue, and if so, what does it involve? How are the responsibilities of libraries changing?
Following the devastating fire on 2 September 2004, the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek decided to not only preserve the bulk of damaged originals through restoration measures, but also to make better use of digitalisation in order to safeguard and provide access to some 4,000 heavily damaged works – the so-called Weimar “ash books”. Midway through the five-year project, sponsored by the Volkswagen Foundation, the library presented an interim report of its progress. The colloquium highlighted the specific demands of collection preservation following destructive events and the possibilities of digital presentation and augmentation of badly damaged documents. In the two panels “Aspects of Digital Preservation” and “New Methods of Identification and Reconstruction”, experts discussed a variety of measures, working processes and technical concepts. The new methods of virtual reconstruction and re-contextualisation were discussed together with representatives from the Historical Archive of Cologne and the Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former GDR.
Conference report in the journal Archivar, iss. 66, H. 3 (2013) pp. 334-337
The fire that ravaged the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek on 2 September 2004 resulted in 62,000 books damaged by fire, heat and extinguishing water, while another 50,000 books were lost to the flames. Almost 20,000 volumes had to undergo more or less extensive restoration, among which were 7,500 leather-bound works spanning five centuries. In order to restore such a large mass of historically significant books, conservators had to develop innovative measures and methods, which were presented during this colloquium.
A conference organised by the Wolfenbüttel Study Group for Library, Book and Media History in cooperation with the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek.
Since the 1980s, various studies have revealed the influence of National Socialism on the libraries and the personal entanglement of prominent librarians in the injustice of this system. Since then, new insights have been gained which justify the organisation of a conference with the express aim of shedding light on the behaviour of individual leading figures in the field of research librarianship.
The thoughts and actions of those members of the profession who were critical of the regime or who were non-political followers have by no means been exhaustively explored.
Against a backdrop of biographies by librarians with obvious National Socialist leanings, the conference aims to shed light on those in this profession who were able to continue their careers after 1945: what scope of action did they have? What were the intellectual and scientific conditions which enabled them to keep their distance from the scientific system under the National Socialists? Did they see the new regime as a categorical break with their own values and systems of order?
Did their activities conform with or deviate from the professional image of the librarian as previously formulated in 1933 by Fritz Milkau? What did these librarians do differently from those of their colleagues who subscribed to NS ideologies? Or were they merely clever in surviving the de-Nazification process? How do the persons concerned interpret their own biographies?
The historical and biographical approach of this conference still appears to be essential for the long history of librarianship to be able to link the history of the mentality, ideas and institutions of that time. Ultimately, discussion of the behaviour of individual members of this profession culminates in the issue of professional ethics in librarianship and the ever-topical question: what are the norms and values which librarians see themselves as bound by?
Access for disabled is not yet standardised in German museums and libraries today. Often it is constructional barriers which make access to the institutions difficult; however, technical obstacles can also restrict access to information, e.g. in the catalogues and internet. Therefore, it is only rarely that people with disabilities can enjoy free access to the collections and services of the libraries and museums. Experience has shown that buildings and information systems designed with disabled access benefit all users and visitors. Ramps and lifting platforms, automatic doors, simple, clearly structured websites and forms, auditory and tactile stations in exhibitions and texts in simple language are examples of types of access focusing on the users – whether with or without disability. In this way, informational and educational services can be better used and obstacles to research are removed.
The seminar held by the Conference of National Cultural Institutions aims to provide basic information on disabled access including explanations of legal requirements, recommendations for opening up disabled access in new and converted buildings and the design of exhibitions and websites suitable for the disabled.
Moreover, opportunities will be provided for detailed presentations and discussions of the latest research on the subject of disability – e.g. in the fields of disability studies, education and social and medical history. The objective is to question current ideas of disability and obstacles as well as to find ways to improve the situation in libraries and museums.
This interdisciplinary seminar targets people involved in the promotion of cultural and educational services, particularly librarians, curators in museums, archivists, specialists in cultural studies, educationalists, historians and architects.
Projects of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar are funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Free State of Thuringia, represented by the State Chancellery of Thuringia, Department of Culture and the Arts.