The jesuit library
„Claustra sine bibliotheca sine armatura“ (lat.)
“A monastery without a library: like a fortress without weapons”
“The current library building from 1865 with its magnificent cast-iron staircase and balustrade construction is one of the most remarkable and best-preserved library buildings of the 19th century in terms of cultural history and monument preservation in the succession of the great baroque monastery libraries.”
(Landesdenkmalpflege Mainz)
History of the library
Libraries have been an integral part of monastic life and monastic architecture since the early days. This was also the case in Maria Laach. When the monastery was founded in 1093, a library was also established here, in which not only writings were collected. Manuscripts were also produced in a scriptorium created under Abbot Fulbert.
When Maria Laach Abbey was dissolved in 1802, neither the old library building nor the existing book collection survived. The manuscripts and printed books – around 3700 volumes – were irrevocably lost to the monastery. Today, 69 manuscripts from the historic Laach monastery library can still be found elsewhere. Only two of these manuscripts have been returned to the present library.
In 1862, the Jesuit order acquired the building and set up a study center, which also included a library. For this purpose, a library room was built in the style of the time and in the tradition of monastic architecture, which is still preserved today as the so-called Jesuit library.
This building stood empty when the Benedictines repopulated the monastery in 1892. The Jesuits, expelled from the territory of the new German Empire in 1872, had taken their books abroad. The room was soon filled by numerous donations and purchases. The basic stock consisted of duplicates from the Beuron Archabbey and gifts from the abbey libraries in Einsiedeln and Engelberg. In addition, there was a large collection of old books from the library of the Benedictine monastery in Neustadt am Main, which was also abolished in 1802.
Additional shelves were added to increase the capacity of the room, but even these were no longer sufficient in recent decades. The lack of space has accompanied the history of the Laach monastery library right up to the present day. It only ended with the construction of the new stacks in the former Jesuit cowshed in 2013.
Today, the library has around 260,000 volumes. The majority of these are now housed in the new stacks. The administration rooms and a new reading room are also located there.
The older part of the collection has retained its location in the Jesuit Library, which has been restored in accordance with conservation principles. Exceptions to this are particularly old and valuable volumes, which are kept in a secure rare book store under ideal climatic conditions. The most important manuscript from the historical library for today’s convent is the chapter book from around 1500 with the martyrology, Benedictine rule and Laach necrology.
Guided tours of the library
The historic library of Maria Laach Abbey is located within the monastery enclosure.
It can therefore only be visited as part of a guided tour. Guided tours of the Jesuit library are offered daily, for which interested parties can register via the monastery forum.
