Weimar. An astronomy book by Galileo Galilei from 1613 and a rare edition of a volume of love songs from 1660 are among the cultural treasures that were destroyed in the fire at the Duchess Anna Amalia Library in the German city of Weimar 20 years ago. However, many texts have been and continue to be saved: experts have so far been able to restore 1.1 million pages of damaged writings, known as ash books, using special procedures, according to the Weimar Classical Foundation. Ultimately, 1.5 million of the 7 million damaged pages will be restored.
On 2 September 2004, a burning cable caused a devastating fire in the historic library building, a World Heritage Site. The roof truss and other parts of the building were completely burned. The furniture in the magnificent Rococo Room was severely damaged by the heat and water used to extinguish the fire. The Classical Foundation speaks of 50,000 historical books and 35 paintings destroyed. 12.8 million euros (14.2 million dollars) were invested in the restoration of the historic library building, which was once overseen by the poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832). The reopening was celebrated in 2007. Thanks to the firefighters and numerous volunteers, a large number of books were removed from the library by a human chain on the night of the fire. Some 28,000 volumes were saved intact and another 118,000 were rescued after being damaged by the extinguishing water and fire. The estimated damage to the collection at that time was 67 million euros. According to the Foundation, it has so far cost 11.3 million euros to replace the lost works. Some 7.8 million euros have also been spent on restoring the ashen books.
However, the full extent of the destruction has not yet been determined. The fire mainly destroyed the important music collection of the duchesses Anna Amalia and Maria Pavlovna.
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– 2024-09-01 15:23:24
