![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Irreplaceable loss
In the aftermath of the horrors in Beslan, the disastrous fire in Weimar may pass unnoticed; it may even be that someone will blame me for feeling it almost as intensely. But the loss of a great historic library, of unique and irreplaceable manuscripts, is a catastrophe whose effects will stretch far into the future. Each of those books was a precious resource from which successive generations could have learned, and now will not. And while it does not break the heart in the same way as the horrendously abused and murdered children of North Ossetia, it is in its way - which, granted, is a different way - the height of disaster. One, after all, would want learning to grow, never to diminish. But as of last night, the world's learning is poorer by thousands of volumes.
From today's NEW YORK TIMES:
Literary Treasures Lost in Fire at German Library
By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER
Published: September 4, 2004
BERLIN, Sept. 3. - Up to 30,000 irreplaceable books were destroyed in a fire on Thursday night at one of Germany's most historic libraries, in the eastern city of Weimar, officials said on Friday.
Among the literary treasures lost at the Anna Amalia Library were thousands of works from the 16th to 18th centuries belonging to the collection of the first Weimar librarian, Daniel Schurzfleisch, and the sheet music archive of the library's patron, Anna Amalia (1739-1807), the duchess of Saxony-Weimar. Another 40,000 books were damaged by smoke and the water used by the firefighters, and are being frozen in an effort to preserve them so they can be sent to Leipzig for restoration. The cause of the blaze was unclear.
"The literary memory of Germany has suffered severe damage," German Culture Minister Christina Weiss said after she inspected the scene. "A piece of the world's cultural heritage has been lost forever." Ms. Weiss promised that the federal government would offer major assistance in restoring the books and the library, which is in a 16th-century rococo palace.
The cost of the damage will probably be in the millions of dollars, said Hellmut Seemann, the president of the Weimar Classics Foundation, which manages the library. In a statement, the Weimar City Council said the market value of the books damaged and destroyed could not be estimated exactly, because they were unique and not insured.
The fire, which broke out in the attic of the building and then reached the Rococo Hall, which held much of the collection, raged for two hours before more than 300 firefighters brought it under control.
Some 120,000 books, including a 1534 Bible owned by Martin Luther, were saved when firefighters and Weimar residents formed a human chain to rescue them. Among the works that survived was the world's largest collection of copies of Goethe's "Faust." The library was founded in 1691 and has a collection, in several locations in Weimar, of about one million books, focusing on German literature from 1750 to 1850. The collection includes some 2,000 handwritten documents, 8,400 maps and many historic copies of the Bible.
From today's NEW YORK TIMES:
Literary Treasures Lost in Fire at German Library
By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER
Published: September 4, 2004
BERLIN, Sept. 3. - Up to 30,000 irreplaceable books were destroyed in a fire on Thursday night at one of Germany's most historic libraries, in the eastern city of Weimar, officials said on Friday.
Among the literary treasures lost at the Anna Amalia Library were thousands of works from the 16th to 18th centuries belonging to the collection of the first Weimar librarian, Daniel Schurzfleisch, and the sheet music archive of the library's patron, Anna Amalia (1739-1807), the duchess of Saxony-Weimar. Another 40,000 books were damaged by smoke and the water used by the firefighters, and are being frozen in an effort to preserve them so they can be sent to Leipzig for restoration. The cause of the blaze was unclear.
"The literary memory of Germany has suffered severe damage," German Culture Minister Christina Weiss said after she inspected the scene. "A piece of the world's cultural heritage has been lost forever." Ms. Weiss promised that the federal government would offer major assistance in restoring the books and the library, which is in a 16th-century rococo palace.
The cost of the damage will probably be in the millions of dollars, said Hellmut Seemann, the president of the Weimar Classics Foundation, which manages the library. In a statement, the Weimar City Council said the market value of the books damaged and destroyed could not be estimated exactly, because they were unique and not insured.
The fire, which broke out in the attic of the building and then reached the Rococo Hall, which held much of the collection, raged for two hours before more than 300 firefighters brought it under control.
Some 120,000 books, including a 1534 Bible owned by Martin Luther, were saved when firefighters and Weimar residents formed a human chain to rescue them. Among the works that survived was the world's largest collection of copies of Goethe's "Faust." The library was founded in 1691 and has a collection, in several locations in Weimar, of about one million books, focusing on German literature from 1750 to 1850. The collection includes some 2,000 handwritten documents, 8,400 maps and many historic copies of the Bible.