Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
University and State Library of Saxony-Anhalt

Branch office

from the Alvensleben Library

Branch of the University and State Library of Saxony-Anhalt

Address

Hundisburg Castle and Gardens Management
from the Alvensleben Library

  • Castle 1
    39343 Hundisburg

Contact

Information from the University and State Library of Saxony-Anhalt

Haldensleben Town and District Library

  • Gerikestraße 3a
    39340 Haldensleben

Opening hours

Use of the reading room by arrangement with the Haldensleben Town and District Library

Use

Since 2012, the Alvensleben Library has been a branch of the University and State Library of Saxony-Anhalt (ULB). It receives professional and academic support from the ULB. Public access is provided by the Haldensleben Town and District Library. Use of the library’s collections is subject to an agreement with the Haldensleben Town and District Library. Books are not available for loan.

History of the Library

Private 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 significant private libraries of the Renaissance period.

 

It owes its main parts to a collection belonging to the humanist and reformer Joachim I von Alvensleben (1514–1588), who acquired his first book – a Latin philosophical treatise by Erasmus of Rotterdam – as early as 1523, when he was just nine years old, and who, whilst a student in Leipzig, Wittenberg, Padua and Paris. He was born in Hundisburg; from 1548 to 1560 he had his main residence at Alvensleben Castle, then in Erxleben, at Rogätz Castle from 1570 to 1582, and subsequently back in Erxleben and Alvensleben, where he died in 1588.

 

In 1579, the collection – which had by then grown considerably through the addition of books from the Red Line of the Alvensleben family in Erxleben, which had died out in 1554, and through further acquisitions – was divided up.

Chapel Library

The so-called Chapel Library was formed from the theological and ecclesiastical history books and housed in a room within the newly built castle chapel in Erxleben. Like the castle chapel, it was jointly owned by the two branches of the family resident in Erxleben (Erxleben I and II) and was under the supervision of the respective parish priest. Its collection was further expanded by Gebhard XXI von Alvensleben-Erxleben I (1556–1624) and his descendants, and eventually comprised some 2,100 volumes.

 

In 1936, the then owners of Erxleben I and II divided the books amongst themselves. Around 900 books went to the library at Erxleben II, and 1,200 to Erxleben I. The latter were largely lost in the turmoil following the war. However, around 450 books were recovered and returned to the family.

Circulation library

The remaining books formed the private library of Joachim I von Alvensleben (Erxleben II), which later became the feudal library, and which he continued to expand until the end of his life. He urged his sons and heirs to the fief to preserve and expand the library, and never to divide or disperse it – a principle to which the family has adhered to this day.

 

In order to make the library more accessible to the public, it was moved to Stendal in 1610. To this end, the family purchased a freehold house behind the cathedral and appointed a librarian. In 1709, at the request of Johann Friedrich II von Alvensleben (1657–1728), the collection was moved to his newly built Hundisburg Castle, where it was housed in the north tower (library tower). After the Hundisburg Castle and estate were lost to the family in 1811, the library returned to Erxleben II.

 

In 1905, it was given its own library building there. In June 1945, some 4,650 volumes from the Lehn Library and 900 volumes from the portion of the Chapel Library allocated to Erxleben II were rescued and taken to Lower Saxony shortly before the Red Army occupied the area. The books were housed at Loccum Abbey from 1953 to 1975 and have been on loan to the Herzog-August Library in Wolfenbüttel since 1976.

 

In 2012, German reunification made it possible to return the Lehn Library to its home region and to reunite it with the surviving holdings of the Chapel Library. At their new yet historic location in Hundisburg, these collections form the holdings of a branch of the University and State Library of Saxony-Anhalt; they are integrated into its catalogue and receive professional and academic support from the library. Public access is provided by Haldensleben Municipal Library.

Subjects

Historical collections from the 15th to the 18th centuries, particularly in the following subject areas:

History / Law / Natural Sciences / Philology / Philosophy / Theology / Funeral sermons

Subject-specific resources

  • https://www.familie-von-alvensleben.de/kultur/bibliotheken/
  • https://www.familie-von-alvensleben.de/kultur/archive/archivalien-alvenslebensche-bibliothek/