Wolfenbüttel is an extremely charming little town. Since this winter has (so far) been much warmer than usual, I have done quite a bit of walking around town and exploring the scenery. There are even some blooms still hanging on until the cold strikes!
Schloss Wolfenbüttel
The schloss (castle) here housed the dukes of Braunschweig-Lüneburg from 1283 until 1754. The schloss was destroyed, rebuilt, and renovated several times, and the building we see here was primarily constructed during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Today, the schloss houses a museum. The schloss is located just across the street from the library and my office- I can even see it from my office window!
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| The Schloss from my office window |
The Herzog August Bibliothek was established in 1572 from the collections of Duke Augustus. The library now houses roughly 2,700 medieval manuscripts, 350,000 printed books from the fifteenth- through the eighteenth-centuries, as well as an amazing collection of secondary literature right up to the present day.
Bibliotheca Augusta
One of the main buildings, the Bibliotheca Augusta, was built late in the 19th century. The books are divided between a few library buildings now, and the medieval manuscripts and early printed books are kept in the Augusta (pronounced ow-GOOS-tuh, not like English "August"). There is also a museum in the Augusta, which currently has a great exhibition about 15th-century manuscript illuminations! I took a bunch of photos outside, but no photos are allowed inside exhibition-- so I pulled some images from the internet to illustrate the interior for you.
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| Little horse atop a strange monument in front of the Augusta |
Zeughaus
The Zeughaus (pronounced like "ZOYG-HOUSE") was built between 1613-1617 as an armory and barracks. In 1947, the building became part of the library system, and it now contains the books published after 1900. The Zeughaus has a quiet reading room, and this is the building where they keep most of the secondary literature that one needs. The copy machine, scanners, catalogs, etc. are all in the Zeughaus. Our offices are right across the street, and I look at the back of the Zeughaus from my office window.
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| Looking out my office window toward the Zeughaus |
The Anna-Vorwerk-Haus was built in 1706. Now it is named after women's rights advocate and educational reformer, Anna Vorwerk (1839-1900), who founded the schlossschule (palace school) and the girls' school in Wolfenbüttel. Anna Vorwerk is also the person we have to thank for the Feierabendhaus (my dorm), because she had it built in 1896 to house retired women teachers from her schools!
Lots of important stuff happens in the Anna-Vorwerk-Haus. Many of the administrators and secretaries for the library and the fellowship programs work here. Every weekday at 1:30 we all gather for coffee in a large parlor in the Anna-Vorwerk-Haus. There is a large community kitchen, where we can cook as a group or have events. And it is also where our offices are located! A bustling hot-spot for our little community, indeed!
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| My office is in the first two windows to the right of the center door |
Many more Wolfenbüttel tours to come in the future, I'm sure!
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