Collections
Alvensleben Library
With a current collection of around 6,000 volumes and over 13,000 titles, the Alvensleben Library is regarded as one of the most important private libraries in Germany founded during the Renaissance. At its heart, the library is based on the book collection of the humanist and reformer Joachim I von Alvensleben (1514–1588).
About the collection
The so-called Chapel Library was formed by merging the theological and church-historical collections. Its holdings were later further expanded by Gebhard XXI von Alvensleben-Erxleben I (1556–1624) and his descendants, and eventually comprised around 2,100 volumes. In 1936, the Erxleben I and II branches of the family divided the books amongst themselves. Around 900 books from the collection went to the Erxleben II library, and 1,200 to Erxleben I. Most of the latter were lost in the post-war turmoil; only around 450 books were recovered and returned to the family.
The remaining books formed the private library of Joachim I von Alvensleben (Erxleben II), who later became Circulation library, which he and his descendants continued to expand. In 1709, at the request of Johann Friedrich II von Alvensleben (1657–1728), the collection was moved to his newly built Hundisburg Castle. When the family was forced to relinquish Hundisburg Castle and the estate in 1811, the library was returned to Erxleben II. There, the collection was housed in its own library building in 1905.
In June 1945, around 4,650 volumes of the Circulation library and 900 volumes of the Chapel Library were evacuated to Lower Saxony. On loan to the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel since 1976, they were reunited in their home region with the preserved holdings of the Chapel Library in 2012.
Research
The holdings of the Alvensleben Library can be searched in Ha:Lit and OPAC.