Wanloria › Destinations › Berlin › Berlin State Library

Berlin State Library

Berlin State Library is one of the largest research libraries in Europe, holding a collection of more than 11 million books, 200,000 rare books, 4,442 incunabula, 18,300 Western manuscripts and 42,170 Oriental manuscripts. Among its most notable treasures are the 5th-century Quedlinburg Itala fragment (the oldest biblical illustrations), a Gutenberg Bible, the 9th-century Psalter of Louis the German, the world's largest collection of autograph manuscripts by Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (80% of all their manuscripts), and the original score of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, inscribed in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register. The library operates from two sites: the historic neo-Baroque building on Unter den Linden (built between 1908 and 1913, restored in 2021 with a new translucent central reading room) and the modern building on Potsdamer Straße at the Kulturforum, designed by Hans Scharoun. The Unter den Linden site houses the Stabi Kulturwerk, a museum with permanent and temporary exhibitions displaying manuscripts, maps, photographs and centuries-old music. Visitors can access the reading rooms, attend cultural events such as lectures and concerts, and take part in public guided tours. The library also offers services such as a café, canteen and workspaces.

Things to do at Berlin State Library: 1 missions

• Explore the translucent central reading roomSee the Berlin State Library's translucent central reading room.

Near Berlin State Library

Source: staatsbibliothek-berlin.de