An English description of the project is not yet available.



Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

Out of all editions of Virgil (P. Vergilius Maro, 70-19 BC; also: Vergil, Virgile, Virgilio) published between 1502 and 1840 (editions of the Opera or of the Aeneis; translations) forming part of the collections of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and containing illustrations (around 200 of over 500 printed works of Virgil), the (almost exclusively black and white, only rarely coloured) xylographs or copper etchings (as well as directly associated text pages such as indications of origin for these illustrations) were digitised. Besides approximately 2000 single pages with illustrations from editions with only figured frontispieces or with small illustration cycles (as a rule one image for each of the 12 Aeneis books) some selected early prints containing larger series of images on Virgil (several with 50 or more illustrations) are digitised comprehensively, so that also the direct image/ text reference is comprehensible. A printed handbook compiled by Werner Suerbaum in 2008 catalogues this thesaurus of illustrations on Virgil.
For the fully digitised printed works please click the project title above or the adjacent image. Those printed works in which digital copies were produced only of the illustrations are all available [ here ] . To access the individual digital objects there, please click the little box ("object") first.

Realised in cooperation with: Prof. Dr. Werner Suerbaum, Griechische und Lateinische, Romanische, Italienische und Slavische Philologie, Sprachen und Kommunikation
Status: finished


[Collection Homepage]  

The choir books of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, a collection of worldwide prominence containing 165 manuscripts with part music mainly from the 16th and 17th centuries, are the subject of a Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) funded project aiming at the collection’s online cataloguing, digitization and publication.

Under the government of Duke Albrecht V. (1550-1579) and with Orlando di Lasso as Bavarian court musician, Munich has been one of the most important centers of musical life in Europe. Besides the famous stock of printed music in the 16th and 17th centuries, the extraordinary inventory of the choirbook tradition bears witness to this fact. Here, the term ‚choirbook’ means to represent a source with part music, showing several vocal parts on one page, or two pages face to face. This notation developed over the course of the development of polyphony long before the common disposition of part music in scores today was established. The first manuscripts written in choirbook notation date back from about 1400, the essential choirbooks from 16th to 17th century, with some late examples still remaining in the 18th century.

75 choir books in large folio format alone are from the Bavarian court music ensemble, predominantly from the time of Orlando di Lasso serving as court music director. Several particularly splendidly illuminated choir books originally belonged to the personal collections of the Bavarian dukes and electors. In the course of secularisation from 1802 onward, further choir book manuscripts of importance were transferred from monasteries to the court library.

Due to the current process of ink corrosion, the condition of most of the stock is extremely delicate, causing some of the manuscripts to be excluded from any usage. Digitization makes the access to these sources possible again. Pre-existant black-and-white digitizations (based on the microfilm copies made in the 1960s) are kept parallel to the new, making it possible in some cases to see the elder state of the manuscripts and compare it with the actual condition.

Status: current
Chorbücher und Handschriften in chorbuchartiger Notierung
Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Herzogl.-Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeldisches Regierungs- und Intelligenzblatt (newspaper) is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Landesbibliothek Coburg
Status: finished


[Collection Homepage]  

The Coburger Zeitung (Coburg Newspaper) brought the world into the houses of several generations of residents of Coburg, starting for the first time in 1854, and then again from 1861 to 1935. With its editorials and advertisements, this newspaper simultaneously mirrors the social, cultural and economic life of a whole region. Two wars, economic crises, many political changes and countless small and great events are echoed on the pages of this newspaper. Therefore the Coburger Zeitung has become an important source for today's historical research on a regional level.

More information (Bavarian Regional Library Online)


Realised in cooperation with: Landesbibliothek Coburg
Status: finished

Funding: Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst  

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Codex Falkensteinensis is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv
Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

Die Bayerische Staatsbibliothek verwahrt einen großen Handschriftenbestand, den sie nach und nach über das Internet einem interessierten Publikum zugänglich machen möchte. Dieses digitale Angebot wird ständig erweitert. Die Digitalisate werden von Originalen in Farbe oder von vorhandenen Mikrofilmen in bitonaler Qualität bzw. in Graustufen hergestellt.

Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Codices iconographici of the Bavarian State Library is not yet available.



Status: finished

Funding: DFG  
Search options: table of contents



[Collection Homepage]  [Liste]  

The "collection of old Italian musical works" acquired by the Hofkapellmeister (court music director) Johann Kaspar Aiblinger by order of King Maximilian II of Bavaria is a large collection of copies, comprising predominantly liturgical vocal music primarily of the Roman school. In the year 1833 Aiblinger was to perform some research during a "cultural journey to Italy (...) on the music archives and collections of famous masterpieces" and, if possible, "enrich the collection of musical treasures of the Munich Royal Court Library (...) by acquiring originals or copies".

The Collectio musicalis Maximilianea was founded on the one hand to complement the repertory of the Munich court music ensemble, and on the other hand as study material for musicologists and for the "education of young composers".

Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Database of Members of the German Reichstag (1867 - 1938) is not yet available.



Status: finished

Funding: DFG  
Search options: full text



[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Decretum magistri Gratiani (Corpus Iuris Canonici, Part 1) is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Monumenta Germaniae Historica
Status: finished

Search options: full text



[Collection Homepage]  [Suchmaske]  

Within the framework of the series "Denkmäler deutscher Tonkunst" (Monuments of German musical art) selected works of different epochs and genres by composers from the German reception area were published from 1892 onward. The strict edition guidelines of the "Musikgeschichtliche Kommission" ("music-historical commission", chaired by Rochus v. Liliencron, Hermann Kretzschmar, Herrmann Abert and Arnold Schering) provided for the greatest possible trueness to the source and reproduction of the original score arrangement.

The first series ("Erste Folge"), published up to 1931, comprised 65 volumes accommodating vocal and instrumental music from the 16th to the 18th century. The majority of volumes concentrate on sacred music of Saxon and Thuringian origin, but also numerous works of greater dimensions such as operas, oratories and ballets from the baroque and early classical eras are represented. Instrumental works by almost forgotten masters such as J.Ch. Pezel, J. Schobert and J. Rosenmüller form part of this series, besides baroque highlights such as the cantatas by Buxtehude and Graupner, Telemann's "Musique de Table", Walther's organ works as well as the most representative operas by Keiser, C.H. Graun, Jommelli, Benda, and Holzbauer.

The edition was republished in the years 1957 to 1960 in a revised version, but here we have the original first edition from the music department of the Bavarian State Library, published by Breitkopf & Härtel Leipzig, in digitized form.

Status: finished


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Denkmäler deutscher Tonkunst - 2. Folge: Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Bayern is not yet available.



Status: finished


[Collection Homepage]  

The present project forms part of the line of action "digitisation of the DFG areas of collection emphasis", concentrating on the digitisation of literature predominantly from the fields of humanities and social studies which is not in the public domain, with an emphasis on monographic works.

In a first project phase around 4700 titles from programme segments of the publishing houses Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Wilhelm Fink/ Ferdinand Schöningh and Otto Sagner will be processed. In a second phase approximately 1750 further titles will be digitised successively, in accordance with an agreed moving wall, representing a time interval between the current publication year and the time of digitisation of three to five years.

Corresponding agreements concluded with the publishing houses, who in turn act in agreement with the authors, provide the opportunity to digitise the copyrighted works and to make them accessible in accordance with the code of practice of the DFG.

Since the start of the project in July 2009 around 3240 volumes have been prepared for digitisation; around 2892 titles are already available in digital form (status May 2010). The titles already processed are researchable via the BSB catalogue or the BVB union catalogue and can be used in an image version with PDF download. An Internet presence with full-text search and faceted search options covering the complete collection is currently being prepared, as is the integration of the project into the relevant virtual subject libraries.

Cooperation Partners:

Publishing houses Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht and V&R unipress
Wilhelm Fink Verlag
Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh
Verlag Otto Sagner


Status: current
Denkmäler deutscher Tonkunst - 1. Folge
Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

The collection of around 5,700 libretti, which could be purchased in 1860 by the then Court- and State Library from the painter and gentleman of independent means Christian Her (1815-1892), is one of the world's largest libretto collections. Its comprehensiveness represents a unique source for the history of opera, literature and culture in the countries of the German language area from the 17th to the 19th century. In addition to around 4,900 books of opera texts (among them i. a. the libretto of the premiere of Mozart's "Idomeneo"), the collection also comprises over 430 oratories and around 350 ballet libretti.

So far the collection has been accessible at the Staatsbibliothek only by means of handwritten repertories or partly by means of short-title entries made within the framework of the RISM libretto project (libretti in German collections). The goal of the project is to catalogue this collection - which is as valuable as it is rare - in accordance with modern, academically up to date criteria and to digitise it in its entirety. The catalogue entries can be retrieved as of the project start via the online catalogue of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Subsequently the digital facsimiles of the libretti will be linked to the catalogue entries. The project will have its own internet presence within the framework of the virtual subject library musicology.

Status: current
Digitalisierung und Erschließung der Librettosammlung Her der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek
Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Digitisation of the printed books of the 16th century published in the German-language area is not yet available.



Status: finished

Funding: DFG  

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Digitisation of the printed books of the 16th century published in the German-language area is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Leibniz-Rechenzentrum
Status: current

Funding: DFG  

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Digitalisierung [VD17] und Bereitstellung der im deutschen Sprachraum erschienenen Drucke des 17. Jahrhunderts is not yet available.



Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek holds the largest collection of medieval manuscripts and incunabula in Germany, and, due to its extensive holdings of printed books of the 16th century, also as rich a collection of book bindings of the 15th and 16th century. Since a great part of the old holdings was acquired by the library in the course of the secularisation of Old Bavarian and Swabian monasteries, the majority of the late medieval and early modern book bindings were crafted by book binders of the region. The book bindings are scholarly assigned to individual workshops with the aid of lists of the decor elements used, i. e. stamps, rolls and plates, of which rubbings are prepared. The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek holds an extensive collection of such rubbings, which has only been categorised roughly and catalogued rudimentarily in internal files so far. This source material will now be digitised and catalogued in the common German book bindings database, in order to make it available for research in the fields of the history of books and art, and to thus enable new findings concerning the origin, distribution and reception of manuscripts and early printed books.



Status: current

Funding: DFG  

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Digitisation on Demand - Varia is not yet available.



Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Book illustrations (woodcuts) of the 15th century is not yet available.



Status: finished

Funding: DFG  
Search options: full text



[Collection Homepage]  [Suchmaske ]  [ Liste]  

An English description of the project eBooks on Demand (EOD) is not yet available.



Status: finished

Funding: EU, eTEN  

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Eckher von Kapfing und Liechteneck, Johann Franz: Book of tombstones is not yet available.



Status: finished


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Eckher von Kapfing und Liechteneck, Johann Franz: Collections and literature on the genealogy of the Bavarian nobility is not yet available.



Status: finished


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Einbandsammlung is not yet available.



Status: current

Funding: DFG  

[Collection Homepage]  [Liste]  

It is undoubted among today's researchers that broadsides have been of paramount importance for the (communication) culture of early modern times. Broadsides as carriers of succinct literature and imagery had an influence on almost all levels of life from the 15th to the 18th century, or, vice versa, were initiated from there. The scope of topics conveyed by the medium of the broadside was correspondingly broad. Thus for instance the subjects of politics (e. g. in comments on the political situation of the time), of law (ordinances) and of religion (e. g. polemic articles of the time of Reformation, pilgrimage leaflets, etc.) were broached. Broadsides contained reports about natural phenomena, monstrous people and animals, and preserved traditional songs. Broadside calendars were helpful to structure the course of the year, and thesis sheets bore witness to the successful work of the universities. Last but not least, broadsides were also a means of advertising (e. g. for book printers and traders). There are a good many more topics and subtopics. The illustrated broadside surely played a special role, but the variety of forms of appearance is great - from pure text up to printed images bordering on graphic prints. This plethora of topics and the multi-functionality of broadsides, which can be outlined only roughly here, really requires interdisciplinary research or an evaluation from the perspective of a great number of individual disciplines. All research has to be put on a sound, secure material basis, though. The digitisation of broadsides by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, which has in the meantime entered into a second support phase, is intended to create such a basis.



Status: finished

Funding: DFG  
Search options: full text



[Collection Homepage]  [Suchmaske]  

Within the framework of the support programme of the German Research Foundation for the "Retrospective Digitisation of Library Collections" the Institute for German Philology of the Ludwig Maximilians University (Prof. Dr. Peil) and the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek have started the cooperative venture of digitising and making available on the Internet a selection of emblem books which are relevant for research and which are accessible only with difficulty otherwise. Depending on the ratio of combination of images and text, the emblem books (primarily from the 17th and the 18th century) are digitised comrpehensively or partly (title, pages with images, and, where appropriate, the text pages necessary for understanding the emblems). The focus of the project is on cataloguing and indexing: the complete bibliographic data will grant access to all titles and the mottos and search terms will grant access to the individual emblems. An academic comment on the individual works will also be integrated in the database.



Realised in cooperation with: Institut für Deutsche Philologie der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (Prof. Dr. Dietmar Peil)
Status: finished

Funding: DFG  
Search options: table of contents



[Collection Homepage]  [Suchmaske]  [Einzelbände]  

Europeana Regia will create a European corpus of digitised manuscripts, testimonies of the circulation of texts and art in Europe in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. A selection of representative collections, today spread between different Member States, has been chosen to focus on several important moments of the political, cultural and artistic history of Europe. It consists of three sub-projects, involving a total number of 874 manuscripts:

1. Bibliotheca Carolina, focusing on the digitisation of 425 masterworks from the main abbeys and bishop schools of the Carolingian Empire (8th-9th centuries), including Reichenau, Saint-Denis, Corbie, Reims, Saint-Amand, Freising, Wissembourg. The manuscripts show the intellectual and artistic activity of these centres of religious life, ecclesiastical and imperial power, and their numerous exchanges of texts and patterns.
The manuscripts digitised in Europeana Regia represent around 50 % of the total amount of Carolingian manuscripts preserved in Europe. The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek will contribute 114 manuscripts to the project.

2. The Library of King Charles V, the most outstanding royal collection of illuminated manuscripts from the 14th century, which was, thanks to the circulation of copies, at the heart of aristocratic culture in France, England, Flanders, and Burgundy (a total of 167 manuscripts, of which the Staatsbibliothek will contribute one).

3. The Library of the Aragon Kings of Naples: this stupendous collection is a unique concentration of masterworks of French, Venitian, Napolitan, Lombard, and Spanish illumination. It is the symbol, beyond political frontiers, of the cultural unity of Europe (282 manuscripts in total, of which the Staatsbibliothek will contribute one).

Project duration: 30 months (2010-2012)

Realised in cooperation with: Bibliothèque nationale de France Paris
Realised in cooperation with: Bibliothèque royale de Belgique Brüssel
Realised in cooperation with: Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel
Realised in cooperation with: Biblioteca Historica, Universitat de València
Status: current

Funding: Europäische Kommission  

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Exlibris is not yet available.



Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

The research documentation on the manuscripts and rare printed books of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek has been continued in the form of an electronic online catalogue for a short while, which catalogue will be accessible via the homepage of the library. The project's aim is to digitise the card catalogue with approximately 120,000 entries and to integrate it in the database. For this purpose, the cards are scanned and some items of information are also entered by hand. These data are loaded into the database and combined with the images of the catalogue cards. It is intended to make the complete research documentation, which has so far been searchable on the spot only, generally accessible on the Internet.
Search Options:
Free search, Hss shelf mark, year, aspect, title, author, origin, complete title, location shelf mark.



Status: finished

Funding: DFG  

[Collection Homepage]  

At the beginning of 1993 the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek acquired the contemporary-historical image archive of Heinrich Hoffmann (photographer of Adolf Hitler). Financial support was granted by the German Research Foundation, out of funds of the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft (Donator Society for German Academic Research). This archive is of great importance as a contemporary historical source, and is continuously complemented by further acquisitions. The cataloguing of the archive was completed at the end of the year 2000. The more than 66,000 photographs are all currently available exclusively on an internal database of the department. The catalogue entries are searchable by personal names, locations, authorities and events. Within the framework of the digitisation project all photographs are now scanned, combined with the catalogue entries and made available on the Internet. Simultaneously, the photographs are available in an optimum quality on a separate computer. Ordered photographs can thus be dispatched in a digitised state by e-mail, on a diskette or on CD-ROM. Moreover, the data can be printed out in photograph quality and be made available to the users in this form.



Status: finished

Funding: DFG  
Search options: table of contents



[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Francia (Journal) is not yet available.



Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

Besides the journal 'Francia', the German Historical Institute Paris also edits a book series, the 'Beihefte der Francia' (BdF). The individual volumes are published in French, English or German, and deal with topics regarding Western European and French history, as well as Franco-German relations. In addition to the image file format on Digitale Sammlungen, the PDF files are available for download from the publication platform perspectivia.net.


Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

'Schriftlichkeit in süddeutschen Frauenklöstern' (written documents of south-German convents) is the title of a cooperation project funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) within the framework of the action programme 'libraries and archives allied with research' (Bibliotheken und Archive im Verbund mit der Forschung). The programmatically new approach allows a close cooperation between the cataloguing, digitisation and scholarly research of the medieval manuscripts, the written documents serving pragmatic purposes and deeds from selected south-German convents. The project is carried out in cooperation between the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, the Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv (Bavaria Main Public Archive) and Prof. Dr. Eva Schlotheuber (formerly Westfälische Wilhelms-University, now Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf).

The excellent state of the library and archive collections of the Dominicans of Altenhohenau, the Bridgettine nunnery of Altomünster, the Munich Clarist congregation (St. Jakob am Anger) and the Franciscans (Pütrichhaus), as well as the Benedictines in Neuburg/ Danube for the first time allows to reconstruct and to evaluate the educational and bibliographic profile of the female congregations on the basis of the manuscripts, archive collections and incunabula. The criteria used are the structure of the book collections regarding both content and acquisition, transcription activities, linguistic competence and authorship of the women, the relationship between text and images, the reception of 'modern' literature and the exchange with laymen. The equally comprehensively surviving collections of internal documents serving pragmatic purposes (convent diaries, convent chronicles, account books, urbaria, cartularia, books of tradition notes, etc.) furthermore offers a valuable insight in the internal situation of the convents, their administrative structures and archive organisation. Finally and importantly, the 'pragmatic documents' represent one of the scarce segments of surviving written heritage which was written by the women themselves.

In the course of the three years' duration of the project approximately 150 Latin and German manuscripts and fragments held by the BSB will be digitized, and 71 of these manuscripts, for which only descriptions written in the 19th century are available, will be newly catalogued.

Realised in cooperation with: Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv
Realised in cooperation with: Prof. Dr. Eva Schlotheuber (Heinrich Heine-Universität Düsseldorf)
Status: current

Funding: DFG  

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Freising Tradition Notes is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv
Status: current

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Fürstenfeldbrucker Zeitung (Newspaper 1928 - 1945) is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Stadtarchiv Fürstenfeldbruck
Status: finished


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Furtmeyr, Berthold: Buchmalerei der Renaissance is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Amt für Archiv und Denkmalpflege der Stadt Regensburg
Realised in cooperation with: Staatlichen Bibliothek Regensburg
Realised in cooperation with: Universitätsbibliothek Augsburg
Status: finished


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Bayerische Verwaltung der staatlichen Schlösser, Gärten und Seen

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project is not yet available.



Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

The weekly 'Der Gerade Weg' (The Straight Path) was edited by Fritz Gerlich (1883 to 1934), together with its predecessor 'Illustrierter Sonntag' (Sunday Illustrated). Starting in 1930, the newspaper, which appeared in Munich from 1929 to 1933, published some the most poignant warnings against national socialism based on a Christian reasoning.

More information (Bavarian Regional Library Online)


Status: finished

Search options: table of contents



[Collection Homepage]  

The exhibition catalogues of the years 1869 to 1931, available in the form of digital copies here, document the Munich annual exhibitions and international art exhibitions, which took place in the Munich Glaspalast. The building was erected in 1854 and destroyed by a fire in 1931. The virtual collection was created on the basis of the holdings of the Monacensia Library of the Munich City Library and the Central Institute for the History of Art and comprises more than 14,000 pages, among them numerous illustrations. Many catalogues were published in a variety of circulation numbers and editions, usually in order to take account of additional exhibits and information. The most comprehensive editions of each of the altogether 43 official catalogues have now been made available online via arthistoricum.net or the Digital Library of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.



Realised in cooperation with: Bibliothek des Zentralinstituts für Kunstgeschichte, München
Realised in cooperation with: Monacensia Bibliothek der Münchner Stadtbibliothek
Status: finished

Search options: table of contents



[Collection Homepage]  

The daily newspaper 'Grafinger Zeitung' was published for the first time in 1923 and discontinued in 1949. Since its area of circulation was limited to the district of Ebersberg, it contains primarily topical news with a regional background. However, in addition to the local news from Grafing and its surroundings, the newspaper also contained news from the fields of politics, the economy and society of supraregional importance. Hence, the two and a half decades of issues of the Grafinger Zeitung represent an important source for research on a regional level, especially since these decades were marked by economic crises and social and political sea changes. The Grafinger Zeitung mirrors the developments of these years on a regional and supraregional level.

The digitisation project has been financially supported by the Historischer Verein für den Landkreis Ebersberg (History Society of the District of Ebersberg), represented by Mr. Schäfer.

More information (Bavarian Regional Library Online)


Realised in cooperation with: Historischer Verein für den Landkreis Ebersberg
Status: finished


[Collection Homepage]  

The Gutenberg bible of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek is one of 49 surviving copies of this significant printed work. It was acquired from the Benedictine monastery of Andechs in 1803. Entries made by the Benedictine Ulrich Kaegerl von Landau (deceased in 1505) indicate that the bible was originally purchased from the monastery of Tegernsee. The copy has coloured initials and borders. A peculiarity of the Munich copy is the 'tabula rubricarum', a list of the red headlines which were to be crafted by hand after the conclusion of the printing process. The only other surviving copy of this list is held by the Austrian National Library (ÖNB) in Vienna. The Munich copy of the bible was digitised in the autumn of the year 2005 by a team of the Humanities Media Interface Project of the Keio University of Tokyo. The two volumes and the tabula rubricarum are searchable in the electronic catalogue of incunabula BSB Ink online and can be accessed online from there.
->Further information on the project



Realised in cooperation with: Humanities Media Interface Project der Keio-Universität Tokio
Status: finished


[Collection Homepage]  

Georg Friedrich Händel (1685 to 1759), the great baroque composer from Halle on Saale, is internationally popular and frequently performed today primarily due to his 30 oratories and more than 40 surviving Italian operas. His immense complete works were represented for the first time according to modern source-critical edition criteria in the famous edition by the musicologist and Händel biographer Friedrich Chrysander (1826 to 1901). Chrysander compiled his complete edition of Händel on his own, which became his life's work. Between 1858 and 1902 the around 100 volumes were published in the name of the "Deutsche Händel Gesellschaft" (German Händel Society) which had been founded specially for this purpose. Chrysander was not only in charge of the editorial work and the funding of the edition, but was also responsible for its complete technical production in a special music engraving and printing shop. (Some posthumously published volumes were published by the editor Max Seiffert.) Chrysander's edition, which was for the first time based on a source-critical concept and for which he resorted i. a. to the original conductor's scores, is regarded as a pioneering work for the historical performance practice of baroque music, and still represents the most comprehensive complete edition of HÄndel's works even today. It is special that all oratory scores are provided with a piano excerpt. The edition by Friedrich Chrysanderis is considered as a pioneering work in musicology and is still classified as the most comprehensive collection of Händels works.

Realised in cooperation with:
Status: finished

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek preserves an extensive collection of manuscripts, which will be made available step by step to the interested public on the Internet. The offer of works available in digitised form is expanded continuously. The digital copies produced from the originals are full colour copies, those produced from microfilms are available in a bitonal or grey-scale quality.

Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek preserves an extensive collection of manuscripts, which will be made available step by step to the interested public on the Internet. The offer of works available in digitised form is expanded continuously. The digital copies produced from the originals are full colour copies, those produced from microfilms are available in a bitonal or grey-scale quality.



Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek preserves an extensive collection of manuscripts, which will be made available step by step to the interested public on the Internet. The offer of works available in digitised form is expanded continuously. The digital copies produced from the originals are full colour copies, those produced from microfilms are available in a bitonal or grey-scale quality.

Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek preserves an extensive collection of manuscripts, which will be made available step by step to the interested public on the Internet. The offer of works available in digitised form is expanded continuously. The digital copies produced from the originals are full colour copies, those produced from microfilms are available in a bitonal or grey-scale quality.



Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek preserves an extensive collection of manuscripts, which will be made available step by step to the interested public on the Internet. The offer of works available in digitised form is expanded continuously. The digital copies produced from the originals are full colour copies, those produced from microfilms are available in a bitonal or grey-scale quality.



Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek preserves an extensive collection of manuscripts, which will be made available step by step to the interested public on the Internet. The offer of works available in digitised form is expanded continuously. The digital copies produced from the originals are full colour copies, those produced from microfilms are available in a bitonal or grey-scale quality.



Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek preserves an extensive collection of manuscripts, which will be made available step by step to the interested public on the Internet. The offer of works available in digitised form is expanded continuously. The digital copies produced from the originals are full colour copies, those produced from microfilms are available in a bitonal or grey-scale quality.



Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek preserves an extensive collection of manuscripts, which will be made available step by step to the interested public on the Internet. The offer of works available in digitised form is expanded continuously. The digital copies produced from the originals are full colour copies, those produced from microfilms are available in a bitonal or grey-scale quality.

Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek preserves an extensive collection of manuscripts, which will be made available step by step to the interested public on the Internet. The offer of works available in digitised form is expanded continuously. The digital copies produced from the originals are full colour copies, those produced from microfilms are available in a bitonal or grey-scale quality.



Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek preserves an extensive collection of manuscripts, which will be made available step by step to the interested public on the Internet. The offer of works available in digitised form is expanded continuously. The digital copies produced from the originals are full colour copies, those produced from microfilms are available in a bitonal or grey-scale quality.

Realised in cooperation with:
Status: current

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek preserves an extensive collection of manuscripts, which will be made available step by step to the interested public on the Internet. The offer of works available in digitised form is expanded continuously. The digital copies produced from the originals are full colour copies, those produced from microfilms are available in a bitonal or grey-scale quality.

Realised in cooperation with:
Status: current

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek preserves an extensive collection of manuscripts, which will be made available step by step to the interested public on the Internet. The offer of works available in digitised form is expanded continuously. The digital copies produced from the originals are full colour copies, those produced from microfilms are available in a bitonal or grey-scale quality.

Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Manuscripts from the St. Emmeram Monastery in Regensburg is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with:
Status: finished

Funding: DFG  

[Collection Homepage]  

Since the year 2000 the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek has converted earlier manuscript catalogues for the project "Manuscript Database" started in 1996. In the first project stage nine old manuscript catalogues with almost 10,000 descriptions were scanned, processed and stored in full-text mode and reviewed almost comprehensively for upload to the manuscript database. It is planned to conclude the work on the digitisation and comprehensive processing and reviewing of eight further catalogues with a total of around 25,170 manuscript descriptions for upload to the manuscript database in a further project stage. Six full catalogues with a high proportion of medieval manuscripts and two short catalogues, which have an inventory character, are to be added within this framework. With the conclusion of this further stage, all 17 catalogues to be entered in the manuscript database with priority will have been processed.



Realised in cooperation with: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin-Preußischer Kulturbesitz
Realised in cooperation with: Bildarchiv Foto Marburg
Status: current

Funding: DFG  
Search options: table of contents



[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Fragments of German and Latin Manuscripts is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with:
Status: current

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Manuscript Fragments of the Dillingen Research Library is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Studienbibliothek Dillingen
Status: finished

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

Karl Amadeus Hartmann (August 2, 1905 – December 5, 1963) is one of the most significant composers of Munich in the 20th century. As initiator of the still ongoing concert series ‘musica viva’ of the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation (‘Bayerischer Rundfunk’) he is a key person for the ’Neue Musik’.

His compositional opus ranks among the great creations of music history. The era of the twenties (futurism, dadaism, Jazz), intensive studies of the ’New Viennese School’ (Schönberg, Berg, Webern) and biographic moments – such as the painful period of the ’inner emigration’ during the period of National Socialism and the deep shock by the experience of war – had influence in a highly emotional work.

Hartmann, who came from an appreciative- of-art family, started with studies at the State Academy of Music in Munich. Later he was a student of Hermann Scherchen and Anton Webern. In 1945 he became dramatic advisor in music at the Bavarian State Opera and remained faithful to the city throughout his life despite a range of offers. Not only because of his commitment for the ’musica viva’, he was in close contact with the important figures of musical life and the art world of the last century. Concerning his style of composition, he writes (in: Kleine Schriften, Mainz 1965):
‘I will not bother about the too variant contemporary trends. Above all, I would like to write in a way that people understand me – every note should be felt and every tiny little break has to be breathed deeply. […] An artist cannot live for the moment without having spoken. If my music lately often was called confessional music, I consider this just as a confirmation of my intention. It was important for me to communicate my attitude to life, which aims at humanity.’

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the death of Karl Amadeus Hartmann in 2013, the Bavarian State Library has digitized the copyright-protected music autographs from the Hartmann-estate and makes them accessible to the public as part of the digital library, with courtesy of the Hartmann-family.

Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek is the keeper of a treasure of historical maps from all over the world. Numerous map sheets document the political, economic and territorial development of Bavaria. The earliest maps date back to the 16th century, the focus of the collection being on the 19th century. The BLO publishes a selection of the most beautiful and most valuable specimens of this collection. The number of digital copies is increased continuously.



Status: current

Funding: Bayerischen Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst  

[Collection Homepage]  [Suche]  

An English description of the project Historical Works containing Tables and Spreadsheets is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: LMU München, Sonderforschungsbereich 573
Status: finished

Funding:   
Search options: table of contents



[Collection Homepage]  [Liste]  [SFB-Projektseite]  

An English description of the project Historical Atlas of Bavaria is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Kommission für bayerische Landesgeschichte
Status: current

Funding: Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Unterricht und Kultus  
Search options: table of contents



[Collection Homepage]  [Suchmaske]  

The historical library of the Munich National Theatre ranks among the world's largest and most valuable opera libraries. This collection (shelf mark group St.th. for "Staatstheater") was transferred to the department of music of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in the 20th century and comprises the performance materials of around 955 stage performances from the period of around 1780 to the start of the 20th century. It comprises the complete scores, instrumental and vocal scores, piano reductions, text books and role books (e.g. director's books, prompt books).

A special subject catalogue is available for the complete collection (http://www.bsb-muenchen.de/Historisches-Auffuehrungsmater.458+M5c345fc6b3c.0.html). The conditions of use of music manuscripts are applicable

Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Imagines mortis is not yet available.



Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

IMPACT is a project funded by the European Commission. It aims to significantly improve access to historical text and to take away the barriers that stand in the way of the mass digitization of the European cultural heritage.

Status: finished

Funding: Europäische Kommission  

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Ingolstädter Anzeiger is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with:
Status: finished

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek holds one of the world's largest collections of printed works from the 15th century. Within the framework of cataloguing projects and prompted by users' requests digital reproductions of individual pages and complete editions have been produced. The digital copies are searchable in the electronic catalogue of incunabula called BSB-Ink online. Among the already digitised parts of the collections there are: :

• graphic-art book illustrations of the 15th century (individual pages with additional search option for image contents)
• broadsides (complete collection)
• incunabula of special importance, among them the Gutenberg bible and Schedel's Nuremberg chronicle (reprint Augsburg 1500)

An English description of the project Yearbook of the History Society of Dillingen on the Danube is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Historischer Verein Dillingen
Realised in cooperation with: BLO
Status: finished

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

Digitisation and provision of the yearbook for Franconian regional research.

The yearbook has been published since 1935 by the Institut für fränkische Landesforschung (Institute for Franconian Regional Research) at the University of Erlangen, which was founded in 1932/33 and became part of the Zentralinstitut für Regionalforschung (Central Institute for Regional Research) of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in 1996. The yearbook is the most important scholarly periodical in the field of Franconian regional history. It contains articles on issues from all epochs from all parts of Franconia. The volumes are made available five years after the publication of the respective printed version.

Realised in cooperation with: Sektion Franken im Zentralinstitut für Regionalforschung der Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Status: current

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

Digitisation, cataloguing and provision in digital form of the periodical "Jahrbuch für Münchener Geschichte".

Realised in cooperation with:
Status: finished

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Yearbooks for the History of Eastern Europe is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with:
Status: current

Funding: DFG  

[Collection Homepage]  

Yearbooks for the Culture and History of the Slavs

An English description of the project Yearbooks for the Culture and History of the Slavs is not yet available.



Status: current

Funding: DFG  

Annual Reports on the Culture and History of the Slavs

Digitisation, cataloguing and provision in digital form of the periodical "Jahresberichte für Kultur und Geschichte der Slaven" (Annual Reports on the Culture and History of the Slavs).

Bibliographic information:
[Jahresberichte für Kultur und Geschichte der Slaven 1.1924]

Status: current

Funding: DFG  

An English description of the project Reproductions of Imperial Charters is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München - Seminar für historische Hilfswissenschaften
Status: finished

Funding:   
Search options: table of contents



[Collection Homepage]  [Chronologisches Verzeichnis]  [Textband]  

An English description of the project is not yet available.



Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Kartogramme und Diagramme zur Statistik Bayerns is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Bayerisches Landesamt für Statistik und Datenverarbeitung
Status: finished


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Bavarian art monuments is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Bayerische Landesamt für Denkmalpflege
Status: current

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Latin Manuscripts of the State Library of Ansbach is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with:
Status: current

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Leibniz Publik – Exzellenzportal der Leibnizpreisträger der DFG is not yet available.



Status: current
Leibniz Publik – Exzellenzportal der Leibnizpreisträger der DFG
Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

This category contains music-related works from the holdings of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, primarily printed editions of opera and oratory texts (libretti).

Realised in cooperation with:
Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

A particularly precious part of the holdings of Music History Department of the German Historical Institute in Rome is a collection of 1.500 historical libretto prints. Three quarters of them come from the estate of Remo Giazotto (1910-1998) whose libretti collection the DHI Rome could acquire in 1979 with the help of the German Research Foundation (DFG) from special funds of the Donors' Association for German Science.

Beginning with L’Andromeda by Francesco Manelli from 1637 as well as numerous long-forgotten composers, but also including big names such as Monteverdi, Albinoni and Vivaldi, it documents the early days of opera in Venice since the opening of the first public opera houses up to the year 1734.

Further libretti rari of the 'Roman music department' hand down opera performances from the 17th century to the early 20th century, inter alia in Milan, Naples and Rome.

Text books on the occasion of festive performances in Italy of the 17th and 18th century are also an important part of the collection. Especially in this numerically rather small group with a little over 200 prints of oratorio texts and about 50 cantata libretti, the proportion of unique pieces is relatively high.

These historical libretti collections were digitized within the scope of a collaborative project of the German Historical Institute in Rome and the Bavarian State Library, funded by the German Research Foundation. The digital versions are already available here, tables of contents are introduced gradually. Part of the project is the indexing of these libretti in the online catalogue of the music library of the DHI Rome and their detection in the Virtual Library of Musicology, both in links to the digitization.

Realised in cooperation with: Deutsches Historisches Institut in Rom
Status: current
Libretti der Musikgeschichtlichen Bibliothek des Deutschen Historischen Instituts in Rom
Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

Selected Works of Franz Liszt

Realised in cooperation with:
Status: finished

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

Digitisation, cataloguing and provision in digital form of selected printed works by Johann Georg von Lori (1723-1787), containing titles on historical and legal subjects.



Realised in cooperation with:
Status: finished

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

The Munich Akademie der Bildenden KØnste (Academy of Fine Arts) was founded in 1808, in continuation of a precursor institution already founded in 1770. It has been one of the leading European schools for visual artists to this day. The second half of the 19th century is regarded as its most thriving period. In the run-up to the 200th anniversary of the Academy in 2008, the matriculation books of the Academy from 1809 to 1920 were digitised in a joint project from 2004 to 2008. The matriculation books serve as consistent documentation of the almost 13,000 art students enrolled during this period. The original books are kept in the archive of the Academy of Fine Arts. In addition to the scans of the original register entries prepared by the Munich Digitisation Centre, the digital edition also comprises the transcription of the master data. The master data were incorporated in a database containing additional information.
Bibliographic information: [ Matrikelbücher der Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, Bd.1 1809-41, Bd. 2 1841-1884, Bd. 3 1884-1920]

Realised in cooperation with: Akademie der Bildenden Künste München
Realised in cooperation with: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München
Realised in cooperation with: Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte München
Status: finished

Funding:   
Search options: table of contents



[Collection Homepage]  

The compositions by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847) were published for the first time in the form of a systematic complete edition in the years 1874 to 1877. The edition of his complete works, divided into 157 volumes, was compiled and edited by Julius Rietz (1812-1877), a musician who was Bartholdy's friend, and published by the publishing house Breitkopf & Härtel. It has formed part of the BSB's core music collection since its publication.

Realised in cooperation with:
Status: finished


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Communications of the Society for History of the City of Nuremberg; MVGN is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Verein für Geschichte der Stadt Nürnberg
Status: current

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  [Suchmaske]  

The editions of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica (MGH), which are predominantly held as a non-lending collection by libraries, will now be made accessible from every PC workstation all over the world. For this purpose, a cooperation project supported by the German Research Foundation was launched by the MGH and the Digitisation Centre of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (start of the project: 1 July 2004). It is intended to continue the project also after the cessation of the financial support by the German Research Foundation. Out of consideration of the book distribution, the topical editions of the respectively preceding five years will remain available in print only, and will then be digitised one after another (a "moving wall" of five years). The first milestone of the project was scheduled for the spring of 2005 and comprised the publication on the Web of all edition volumes of the MGH in an image form. Until 2010 three further project stages will take place, in which the full texts of the editions, the prefaces, the annotations and the registers will be digitised. - The first project stage (2004 to 2006) comprised the full texts of the series Diplomata, Epistolae and Antiquitates, - the second stage (2006 to 2008) comprises the folio Scriptores and the Leges, - the third stage (2008 to 2010) the Antiquitates and all further Scriptores series.



Realised in cooperation with: MGH
Status: current
- 150.000 Seiten digitalisiert
Funding: DFG  
Search options: full text



[Collection Homepage]  

The "Teutsche Staats-Recht" (German State Law) published by Johann Jacob Moser between 1737 and 1754 is an important source for the constitutional history of Germany and the "practice of statehood" in early modern times. In order to facilitate working with the 52-volume work, the "Hauptregister" (main register) published as volume no. 53 will be digitised as a full text. Furthermore, the volumes 44 to 50, which relate to the Reichstag (parliament) of early modern times, will be digitised.



Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Münchener Ratsch-Kathl is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with:
Status: finished

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Munich Weekly for the Catholic Congregation is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with:
Status: finished

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

The Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus had established one of the most important Renaissance libraries in his palace in Buda. However, after his death (1490), and in particular due to the invasions by the Turks, the collection was scattered. The great importance of this collection is not least based on the fact that Matthias Corvinus, who had enjoyed a humanistic upbringing, built up a systematic collection of manuscripts from a variety of subject fields, and even commissioned a number of manuscripts himself. Predominantly in Italy he had Latin texts written on parchment in an elaborate humanistic book script and had the works illuminated exquisitely, while he purchased valuable Greek manuscripts from Byzantium - also in Italy. All books were bound in a splendid cover and bore the coat of arms of the Hungarian king, making it possible today to reconstruct large parts of his library. Thus 232 of these Corvinus manuscripts are today preserved in almost 50 libraries all over the world.

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich holds eight of these valuable so-called "Corvinen", which were entered in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in the year 2005 (representing the second nomination of holdings of the BSB by the UNESCO after the Reichenau manuscripts). Of these eight Munich Corvinus manuscripts six were written in Latin (Clm 69, 175, 294, 310, 341 and 627) and two in Greek (Cod.graec. 157 and 449).

Realised in cooperation with:
Status: finished

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

This group consists of autographs and copies of the shelf-mark group 'Mus.ms.' from the 15th century to the present, such as for example the monumental choir books of the Bavarian court music ensemble or manuscripts from collections and personal papers of important composers. Furthermore, sources from concluded collections are comprised, such as the historical performance materials of the Bavarian State Opera (shelf mark: St.th.). The digital offer of copyright-free music manuscripts is continuously expanded, on the one hand by the current orders, on the other hand by digitisation for reasons of conservation by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.

Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

This category contains digitized musicological and music theoretical publications from the holdings of the Music Department of the Bavarian State Library, which are not subject to copyright protection. Here early historical music treatises are assembled as well as modern special literature and music encyclopaedia of musicians and music sciences.

Realised in cooperation with:
Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Nachlässe der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek is not yet available.



Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Nibelungenlied-Handschriften aus der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with:
Status: finished

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

This continuously growing category contains digitized printed sheet music of a broad variety of music types and epochs from the holdings of the BSB's Department of Music, which are not subject to copyright protection. By way of example, the complete edition of the works of Georg Friedrich HÄndel (so-called Chrysander edition, published from 1858 to 1902) and the edition of musical works by Franz Liszt (so-called Carl-Alexander edition, published from 1907 to 1936) should be mentioned.

Realised in cooperation with:
Status: current

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Notendrucke des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts mit mehrstimmiger Musik in der BSB is not yet available.



Status: current

Funding: DFG  

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Isarstrom (Bavarian Journal of the 18th Century) is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with:
Status: finished

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project OstDok-Varia is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München
Realised in cooperation with: Collegium Carolinum München
Realised in cooperation with: Herder-Institut Marburg
Realised in cooperation with: Osteuropa-Institut Regensburg
Status: current
Nibelungenlied-Handschriften aus der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek
Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

The large-format splendid manuscript of the New Testament was crafted around or shortly after 1430, commissioned by Duke Louis VII of Bavaria-Ingolstadt. The complete German bible text was written at this time, the gaps left for the drawings containing instructions for the illuminator in Latin. However, the book decorations by three Regensburg masters or workshops were completed only on approximately one fifth of the 307 parchment sheets. The missing miniatures and initials were added in the years 1530 to 1532 by the artist Mathis Gerung from Lauingen, commissioned by Ottheinrich of Pfalz-Neuburg.

The Ottheinrich bible is the earliest surviving illustrated manuscript of a new testament in the German language. In the course of the Thirty Years' War the bible was twice taken as war loot, in 1622 from Heidelberg to Munich and in 1632 on to Weimar, from where it was taken to Gotha soon afterwards. During the second half of the 19th century the manuscript, which was temporarily also known as the "Gotha bible", was divided into eight partial volumes. The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek acquired volumes 1, 2 and 7 in 1950; a facsimile edition of volumes 1 and 2 was published in 2002. The remaining five volumes were acquired in 2007 with the kind support of the Ducal House of Saxony-Coburg and Gotha from the collections of the Foundation for Art and Science of the Duke of Saxony-Coburg and Gotha. The Universitäts- und Forschungsbibliothek Erfurt/ Gotha has left the book cover to the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek as a permanent loan.

The purchase would have been impossible without the considerable support by the Free State of Bavaria and a broad, highly committed funding coalition. The members of this coalition are the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Kulturstiftung der Länder (Culture Foundation of the German Länder), the Bayerische Landesstiftung (Bavarian Land Foundation), the Oberfrankenstiftung (Upper Franconia Foundation), the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung (Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation), the Foundation Propter Homines, the Freiberger Foundation as well as the Archdiocese Munich and Freising and the Bibelhaus Erlebnismuseum Frankfurt (Bible House Experimental Museum).

Exhibitions

The complete Ottheinrich bible was presented for the first time from 10 July to 10 August 2008 in an exhibition in the Schatzkammer (treasure chamber) of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Further exhibition dates of the Ottheinrich bible, before the manuscript will be given some necessary rest in the vault of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek:

28 February to 10 May 2009 Bibelhaus Erlebnismuseum Frankfurt am Main
21 September to 2 November 2009 German Historical Museum Berlin
April 2010 - Forschungsbibliothek Gotha
16 May - 27 June 2010 Bamberg State Library


High-quality digital copies were produced of all pages of the bible by the Faksimile Verlag Luzern, which already published a facsimile edition of the partial volumes 1 and 2 in 2002.

Faksimile Verlag Luzern, vol. 1 u. 2: Colour digital copies to follow shortly.

Realised in cooperation with:
Status: current

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Passauer Neue Presse is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Staatliche Bibliothek Passau
Realised in cooperation with: Passauer Neue Presse
Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Name Search inside different digitsed Biographic Encyclopaedia is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with:
Status: finished

Funding: Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Unterricht und Kultus   
Search options: full text



[Collection Homepage]  

With 72 extraordinary manuscripts from the collection of the Bavarian State Library, as well as three exceptional works from the Bamberg State Library, the Kunsthalle of the Hypo Cultural Foundation presents a wide overview of the earliest and most precious examples of German book illumination.These 75 magnificent volumes represent some of the greatest cultural and artistic achievements of the Carolingian, Ottonian and Romanesque eras. Within this library’s extensive collection, the Ottonian manuscripts in particular form a unique nucleus that is unsurpassed worldwide. Owing to their extraordinary fragility, these highly valuable works can hardly ever leave the library’s vault. This exhibition of original manuscripts therefore offers a unique opportunity to discover thousand-year-old testimonies to our cultural heritage.

The oldest manuscript on display dates from the era of the last Bavarian Agilolfing duke. The Carolingian codices from the illumination centres of Salzburg, Tegernsee and Freising bear witness to the high quality of artistry in the 9th century. German illumination under the Saxon emperors from Otto the Great (912-973) to Henry II (973-1024), is one of the most glorious epochs of early occidental illumination, which played a prominent role in the arts at that time. Among the greatest achievements of this Ottonian period are the magnificent depictions of sovereigns. These establish a connection between the secular and the sacred, and underline the sanctity of imperial power.

Secular and ecclesiastical rulers commissioned liturgical manuscripts from the best writing schools and illumination centres: these gospels, pericopes and sacramentaries were richly decorated with luminous colours and gold. Their ingeniously tooled luxurious bindings are encrusted with numerous precious stones, cameos and ivory reliefs, including spolia dating from the classical, Byzantine and Carolingian periods.

Four world-famous sumptuous codices from the island of Reichenau, whose monastery became the imperial scriptorium under Otto III and Henry II, are on show, including the gospels of Otto III and the pericopes of Henry II. Together with the evangeliary from Bamberg cathedral and the Bamberg Apocalypse, these books have been listed on UNESCO's ‘Memory of the World’ World Documentary Heritage register since 2003. The importance of Regensburg as a centre for the creation of sumptuous codices is demonstrated by two magnificent liturgical manuscripts, the Codex commissioned by the Abbess Uta and the Sacramentary of Henry II.

The art of Ottonian illumination outlasted the Saxon rulers until well into the Salian period. The date of the transition from Ottonian to Romanesque art cannot be precisely defined. Other selected manuscripts from the Bavarian State Library illustrate the continuity into the 11th century right up to the threshold of the Romanesque, at the same time following the development of Romanesque book illumination and its flourishing in the following century up to Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (1122-1190).

The digital service accompanying the exhibition 'Magnificent Manuscripts' offers complete digitisations featuring 56 of the 75 exhibited manuscripts, as well as selected images from three more objects.


[Collection Homepage]  

The "Bayrischen Adls Beschreibung" (description of the Bavarian nobility) compiled by Johann Michael Wilhelm von Prey zu Straßkirchen (1690-1747) is the most extensive collection of genealogical data of Bavarian noble families of all. Comprising 33 folio-sized volumes, the rather voluminous work, which was "vermehret, mit Wappen gezieret und in die gegenwerhtige ordnung gebracht" (complemented, adorned with coats of arms and arranged in the current order) by the Chamberlain of Freising with the aid of earlier works by the Prince-Bishop of Freising, Johann Franz Eckher von Kapfing (1649-1727), lists and describes more than 2500 family names. However, it remained a fragment: Important families such as the Nothafft, Ortenburg or Seyboltstorff families, but also less important, but rather well-known families such as the Münchauer, Reitorner, Tunz or Zachreis families are not mentioned at all or only in a few sentences, together with their coat of arms. In contrast, Prey's collection contains some families which one would not expect to find there, given their importance or nationality.

Prey's descriptions of the nobility are – based on the possibilities and historical methods of their time – a compilation of his own and other persons' genealogical works and of excerpts from deeds, chronicles and compendia of coats of arms, for which reason the articles on the individual families differ rather strongly in depth, exactness and type of representation.

Realised in cooperation with:
Status: current

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Diaries of the Politician Johann Maximilian Emanuel von Preysing (1687 to 1764) is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with:
Status: finished

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Publikationen des Deutschen Historischen Instituts Moskau is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with:
Status: current

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Oktoberfest is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Münchner Stadtmuseum
Realised in cooperation with: Monacensia Literaturarchiv und Bibliothek
Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

Digitisation of selected sources and representations on the history of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.



Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

In the "sources and studies" works on the Polish and east European history, ranging from the middle ages to modern times, are published. Besides monographs and collective works also source editions are published as part of the series. The series has been published by the Harrassowitz publishing house, Wiesbaden, since 1995.

Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Shorthand an Business Reports about the Session of the Bavarian Farmers' Association from 1920 to 1932 is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with:
Status: current

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

In 2009 the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek acquired two precious and highly informative books on the family history of the Fuggers.

The "Geheimes Ehrenbuch" (secret book of honour) was crafted between 1545 and 1549. The manuscript impressively illustrates the Fuggers' self-projection and is an outstanding product of late-Renaissance book illustration from the Augsburg workshop.

The series of copper etchings "Fuggerorum et Fuggerarum… imagines" was published in 1593 and 1618 in a small number of copies for use by the family members. The copy acquired by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek has an unusual quality of coloration and is unique regarding its completeness.

The „Geheimes Ehrenbuch" (secret book of honour) and the „Fuggerorum et Fuggerarum... imagines“ are being presented in a skimmable 3D-version (beta).
In a development partnership of MDZ and Microbox company a 3D-model especially for rare books and manuscripts has been developed. It allows the viewing of the books binding from different perspectives. This first version is based on transformed 2D data. Next version will make use of 3D scans to provide an even more realistic reproduction.

The purchase of the two Fugger books was made possible by the support of the following institutions:

Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung
Kulturstiftung der Länder
Volkswagen Foundation
The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media
Bayerische Landesstiftung
Kurt and Felicitas Viermetz Foundation

Status: finished


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Regensburger Reichsstädtische Bibliothek Online (RRBO) is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Stadtarchiv Regensburg
Realised in cooperation with: Universitätsbibliothek Regensburg
Realised in cooperation with: Universität Regensburg
Status: in preparation

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Regesta Imperii Sect. 1-14 is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Deutsche Kommission für die Bearbeitung der Regesta Imperii e. V. bei der Mainzer Akademie der Wissenschaften
Status: finished

Funding: DFG  
Search options: full text



[Collection Homepage]  [Suchmaske und Blättern in den Bänden]  

In the 10th and 11th century, the Benedictine abbey Reichenau probably had Europe's largest and most influential school of book illumination. In its most thriving period between around 970 and 1010/ 20 a series of mostly liturgical manuscripts were crafted there, commissioned by the highest circles of society of that time - prince-bishops, kings and emperors.

With lively artistic imagination and innovative strength monks created great works of art whose beauty and perfection are still breathtaking today. As sources of inspiration they used both the Carolingian book illustrations of the court school of Charlemagne and early Christian and Byzantine models. Academic research categorises the codices into groups named after their writers, artists or principals.

In addition to the Eburnant category and the Ruodprecht category, primarily also the Liuthar category merits mentioning. It groups the splendid manuscripts crafted by members of the Reichenau school of illumination in its absolute prime. The three manuscripts now held by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek were presumably among the most valuable works presented by Emperor Henry II to the Bamberg cathedral. The gospel book of Otto III. (Clm 4453) with elaborate cover and luxurious illustration was crafted on behalf of the emperor. In addition to a double-page homage of the provinces to the enthroned emperor, the book contains among other things a chronologically arranged series of images on the life of Christ (29 portrait-format whole-page miniatures on a golden background). The representations of the four "visionary" evangelists are regarded as one of the masterly achievements of the Reichenau school of book illumination. The gospel book from the cathedral of Bamberg (Clm 4454) stands out for its special iconographic images, e. g. the representation of Christ in the tree of life surrounded by the symbols of the evangelists and the rivers of the Garden of Eden. The altar cards feature the signs of the zodiac – an unusual combination which is unique for the illuminations of Reichenau. The evangeliary of Henry II (Clm 4452) in addition to the dedication drawing, the coronation of Henry and his bride Kunigunde by Christ, features a cycle of 23 miniatures on the new testament. The monumental, expressive figures particularly come to their own in the double-page representations.

The three manuscripts of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek were entered in the Memory of the World Register at the end of the year 2003, together with seven further illuminated manuscripts from the monastery island of Reichenau in Lake Constance, which are held by other libraries. The codices are outstanding examples of Ottonian book illumination in Germany. They were selected for their importance in the scriptorium, their artistic innovation regarding book decoration and the topics depicted in the miniatures, as well as their expressiveness concerning the religious, political and cultural-historical situation of their time. They also stand for all other Ottonian manuscripts crafted on the Reichenau island.

The Memory of the World Register was founded by UNESCO in 1992. The aim of the programme is to make documents of historic and cultural importance universally accessible, and to prevent them from sinking into oblivion or from destruction.

Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Reichstagsprotokolle - Verhandlungen des Deutschen Reichstags und seiner Vorläufer is not yet available.



Status: finished

Funding: DFG  
Search options: full text



[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Resources on the Revolution of 1918 in Bavaria is not yet available.



Status: finished

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

Rosenheimer Zeitungen 1833 - 1924

An English description of the project Rosenheimer Zeitungen 1833 - 1924 is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Stadtarchiv Rosenheim
Status: in preparation

Digitisation, cataloguing and provision in digital form of the periodical "Russia mediaevalis".

Bibliographic information:
[Russia mediaevalis: Erschienen 1.1973 - 4.1979; 5.1984/86 - 7.1992/93; 8.1995,1; 9.1997,1; 10.2001,1; damit Ersch. eingestellt]

Status: current

Funding: DFG  

[Collection Homepage]  

Digitisation, cataloguing and provision in digital form of the periodical "Russkij kalendar".

Bibliographic information:
[Russkij kalendar: Bd. 4.1875 – Bd. 45.1916]

Status: finished


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Omnibus of the History Society of Ingolstadt is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Historischer Verein Ingolstadt
Status: current

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Treasures of the Bavarian State Library in 3D is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Microbox GmbH
Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

The Nuremberg chronicle of the physician and humanist Hartmann Schedel (1440 to 1514) was published by Anton Koberger in the year 1493 in a Latin and a German edition. The original edition of the chronicle contains more than 1,800 xylographs by way of illustration, which were crafted after drawings by Hans Pleydenwurff, Michael Wolgemut and possibly also Albrecht Dürer. The present German edition with the translation by Georg Alt was published in 1500 by Johann Schönsperger in Augsburg, and belongs to the abbreviated or simplified reprints, however which were complemented by approximately 350 xylographs. In comparison to the city views of the first edition, which frequently covered two pages, the small-scale xylographs of the reprint were much easier to handle from point of view of printing technique. This circumstance presumably rendered the production faster and less expensive.

Bibliographic information:
[Schedel, Hartmann: Liber chronicarum. Das buch Der Croniken unnd geschichten. Aus dem Lat. übers. von Georg Alt. Mit Beiträgen von Hieronymus Münzer. Augsburg: Johann Schönsperger, 1500]

Status: finished

Funding: DFG  

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Schmeller, Johann Andreas: Bavarian Dictionary is not yet available.



Status: current

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

The highly differentiated musical works by the composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828) were published for the first time in the form of a systematic complete edition in the years 1884 to 1897. The works edition is subdivided into 22 series and was published by the publishing house Breitkopf & Härtel with a number of important persons as editors, among them Johannes Brahms and Joseph Hellmesberger.

Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

The compositions by Robert Schumann (1810-1856) were published for the first time in the form of a systematic complete edition in the years 1881 to 1893. The edition of his complete works, divided into 156 volumes, was edited by the composer's widow Clara Schuman (1819-1896) and published by the publishing house Breitkopf & Härtel. It has formed part of the BSB's core music collection since its publication.

Status: finished

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

Selected works on the History of Schwandorf in Bavaria

An English description of the project Selected works on the History of Schwandorf in Bavaria is not yet available.



Status: in preparation

Description of the Diocese of Augsburg

An English description of the project Description of the Diocese of Augsburg is not yet available.



Status: current

Funding:   

An English description of the project Sudetendeutsche Zeitung is not yet available.



Status: finished

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

Among its collections the Provinzialbibliothek (provincial library) Amberg holds some 'flotsam of secularisation' in the form of seven folio-sized volumes containing a total of 1497 so-called ‘Totenroteln’. These 'rolled-up documents of deceased persons' originally belonged to the former Benedictine monastery of Ensdorf in Upper Palatinate. The text type of the 'Totenrotel' goes back to the late-medieval custom of sending a message about the decease of a fellow brother to other monasteries allied through a prayer pledge, so that these could include the deceased in their remembrance of the dead and their prayers. These ‘remnants of monastic memorial culture’ – originally rolled-up strips of parchment and paper (thence the name) – were sent per messenger to said confederate monasteries in the form of broadsheets or as printed forms with handwritten entries starting at the middle of the 16th century. In the archive of a recipient monastery thus numerous messages were collected which came from different, partly very remote monastic communities. The Ensdorf collection thus comprises in particular the ‘Roteln’ from monasteries of the Bavarian Benedictine congregation, including i. a. Andechs, Benediktbeuern, St. Emmeram and Tegernsee. Regarding their content, these documents are more than mere messages that a brother had died in that they frequently also contained information about the brother's background (place of birth, Christian name, profession and sometimes the name of the father), his studies, his fields of activity in the monastery, as well as information relating to time (e. g. about the time span since ordination to priesthood) and a brief report about the last days of his life. Accordingly, they represent a rich source for prosopographic research.

The ‘Roteln’ compiled in the seven volumes refer to the years 1716 to 1789. For the sake of greater user friendliness in the digital presentation they are offered together with some structural data: an interlinked table of contents with personal names, home monastery and date of death.

Status: current

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Varia is not yet available.



Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project VD 18 digital – Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachraum erschienenen Drucke des 18. Jahrhunderts – Pilotphase is not yet available.



Status: current
Totenrotelsammlung des Benediktinerklosters Ensdorf im Bestand der Provinzialbibliothek Amberg
Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Shorthand reports about the sessions of the German constituent national assembly in Frankfurt on Main is not yet available.



Status: finished

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Sessions of the German constituent imperial assembly at Frankfurt on Main is not yet available.



Status: finished

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Session of the Bavarian Chamber of Deputies (1429-1513, 1514-1669, 1919-1933, 1946-1947) is not yet available.



Status: finished

Funding: Bayerischer Landtag  
Search options: full text



[Collection Homepage]  

With the personal papers of the Munich universal scholar and music researcher Karl Franz Emil von Schafhäutl (1803-1890) an important collection of autographs and copies of Georg Joseph Vogler, called Abbé Vogler, was acquired by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Abbé Vogler, who, similarly to Schafhäutl, was a researcher and teacher in a variety of subjects, namely composer, music theoretician, instrument maker, master organ player, music director and clergyman, as member of the Mannheim court music ensemble belongs to the world-famous 'Mannheim school' of composition with regard to his compositional work. After long-term stays abroad, for example as music director at the court of Gustav III in Stockholm, pronounced teaching activity and numerous expeditions, he returned to Munich several times, where he pursued ambitious organ construction projects until the last years of his life and was politically active, involving a number of publications. His work as a composer comprises all types of compositions, showing French and Italian influences, and the consideration of chorales, hymns and folk songs.

Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Wagner, Richard : Notendrucke, Musikhandschriften und Briefmanuskripte der BSB is not yet available.



Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project is not yet available.



Status: current
Wasserzeichen-Informationssystem der deutschen Handschriftenzentren
Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Vienna Slavic Studies Almanac (Wiener Slawistischer Almanach) is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Gesellschaft zur Förderung Slawistischer Studien, Wien
Status: current

Funding:   
Search options: table of contents



[Collection Homepage]  [Suchmaske]  

Status: finished

Search options: table of contents



[Collection Homepage]  

1. Project 1999 to 2001
The working group for the preparation of the contents of a decentralised digital research library appointed by the German Research Foundation had explicitly recommended the digitisation of reference works. An intensive and extensive use could be expected particularly for this type of literature, and therefore also an added value created by the online availability of corresponding items. By digitising the most important German encyclopedia of the 18th century (Zedler) and the authoritative dictionary of the time (Adelung) it is the aim of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek to make complementary works available, which are important to a broad spectrum of historical disciplines. The access modes for the two works will differ from each other: Concerning the "Zedler'sches Universallexikon", all terms covered by an article will be rendered searchable, providing links to the respective page of the encyclopedia in an image format. It is not feasible to digitise the total of 68,000 pages covered in narrow print in full-text mode. However, the "Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch" with its 4.000 pages will be digitised and offered as a fully searchable text.
2. Project since 2004
Johann Heinrich Zedlers Universal-Lexicon is by far the most comprehensive general encyclopedia of the 18th century, for which a subject catalogue will be set up for the first time. The 68 folio volumes, which were published between 1732 and 1754, contain around 68,000 pages on which, according to the cover sheet, 33 different disciplines and fields of knowledge are represented. Through the digitisation of the Universal-Lexicon by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (http://www.zedler-lexikon.de) the approximately 288,000 entries are rendered individually searchable (which also applies to the around 270,000 references), but so far it has not been possible to catalogue the subject areas, not even to outline them roughly. The project is carried out in cooperation with the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel. It is intended to match an electronic evaluation of the database of the encyclopedia entries created in the course of the digitisation works as closely as possible with a subject-oriented categorisation carried out in accordance with as many different criteria as possible, and to thus identify central subject groups of the Universal-Lexicon. The exclusion of the partial encyclopedias virtually contained in the Universal-Lexicon will make it possible to prepare a statement of contents of this comprehensive encyclopedia of the 18th century, and academic research will thus be given substantial and specific new impulses.

Bibliographic information:
[Zedler, Johann Heinrich: Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon aller Wissenschafften und Künste
Bd. 1 (1732) - Bd. 64 (1754)]

Realised in cooperation with: 2. Projekt: Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel
Status: finished

Funding: DFG  

[Collection Homepage]  [Suchmaske]  [Zedleriana - Materialien zu Zedlers Universal-Lexikon]  

An English description of the project Periodical of the History Society for Swabia and Neuburg is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Historischer Verein für Schwaben
Realised in cooperation with: UB Augsburg
Realised in cooperation with: BLO
Status: finished

Funding:   

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Journal for Bavarian History is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Kommission für bayerische Landesgeschichte
Status: current

Funding:   
Search options: full text



[Collection Homepage]  [Suchmaske]  

An English description of the project Journal for the Construction of Musical Instruments (1881-1943) is not yet available.



Realised in cooperation with: Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung - Berlin
Status: finished

Funding: DFG  

[Collection Homepage]  

Digitisation, cataloguing and provision in digital form of a variety of periodicals from the collections of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and other partner institutions, of which only individual issues or years of publication were published or are present.



Status: current


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project On the social situation in Bavaria 1947 is not yet available.



Status: finished


[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Shorthand Reports of the Sessions of the German Reichstag (Part III: 1895 - 1918) is not yet available.



Status: finished

Funding: DFG  

[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Shorthand Reports of the Sessions of the German Reichstag (Part II: 1867 to 1895) is not yet available.



Status: finished

Funding: DFG  
Search options: full text



[Collection Homepage]  

An English description of the project Shorthand Reports of the Sessions of the German Reichstag is not yet available.



Status: finished

Funding: DFG  
Search options: table of contents



[Collection Homepage]