[kj] ot - lost treasures

[fluwdot at earthlink.net]

like the archives torched in iraq recently, more important works 
are lost

Soul of Germany' is devastated by blaze
By Kate Connolly in Berlin
(Filed: 04/09/2004)

Hundreds of thousands of priceless antique books were feared
destroyed or badly damaged yesterday by a fire that swept 
through a
16th century German palace.

The Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar, central Germany, 
home to
some of the country's most precious volumes including the world's
largest collection of Faust by the national playwright, Goethe, was
engulfed by flames which destroyed large parts of the building
including the roof.

Flames pour from the library leaving a smouldering ruin Cultural
experts were surveying the extent of the disaster last night after it
emerged that some literary treasures had been rescued due 
largely to
the bravery and quick-wittedness of library staff.

A 1534 Bible belonging to Martin Luther, the founder of
Protestantism, as well as travel notes by the naturalist and 
explorer
Alexander von Humboldt, were salvaged along with around 
50,000 other
books as staff, firemen and Weimar citizens formed a human 
chain to
carry the treasures - books, paintings and sculptures - to safety.

Some staff were in tears as firemen were prevented from re-
entering
the inferno as the flames took hold of the library, listed as a
Unesco World Heritage site.

Christina Weiss, Germany's culture minister, who hurried to the 
scene
yesterday morning, could not hide her despair. "A piece of the
world's heritage has been lost forever," she said, close to tears.

"The literary memory of Germany has suffered severe damage," 
she
added, pledging emergency funds of =A32.7 million.

A scorched tome is saved from the fire Among the losses of the
collection, which consisted of a million books, were up to 10,000
original editions of Shakespeare's works, first editions of
Schiller's dramas, part of the collection of the first Weimar
librarian, Daniel Schurzfleisch, and the sheet music collection of
Duchess Anna Amalia.

Most of the books were unique and therefore could not be 
insured,
Michael Knoche, the head of the library, said.

It was thought that most damage was caused not by the flames 
but by
smoke and water. Wet books that were collected in skips were 
placed
in deep freeze later to prevent further disintegration, a technique
practised during the Central European floods in the summer of 
2002.

Investigators at the scene of the charred remains of the library,
housed in the former palace residence of the 18th century 
Duchess
Anna Amalia, were examining claims that the fire was started in 
the
attic by an electrical fault.

It had spread through the building before reaching the Rococo 
Hall.
It took more than 300 firemen about three hours to bring the blaze
under control. Local people looked on in despair as they watched 
the
building burn.

The duchess, an ardent patron of the arts, succeeded in putting
Weimar on the map in the late 18th century, along with her son 
Duke
Carl August, who was educated by Martin Wieland, the first 
translator
of Shakespeare into German.

Her library collection focuses on German classics from 1750 to 
1850,
but spans the 16th to 19th centuries. Weimar is most famous as 
having
been the home of Goethe as well as Schiller, Lucas Cranach the 
Elder
and Bach.

In the early 20th century the Bauhaus architectural movement was
founded in Weimar.

The city has often been described as being "home to the German 
soul"
and attracts hundreds of thousands of cultural pilgrims every year.

A new =A316 million library to house the Duchess Anna Amalia 
collection
was due to open in Weimar early next year. Work had already 
started
on moving the books to the new site.

Weimar's mayor, Volkhard Germer, said he was devastated by 
the loss,
saying it was a particular blow for cultural Germany.

Weimar had not been hit by such a disaster since a fire in 1772 
which
destroyed the duchess's palace, he said. "This is a calamity not 
seen
since that fire more than three centuries ago," he said.

The fire is the second cultural disaster to hit Germany in as many
weeks. Last month Bonn Opera House was seriously damaged 
by a roof
fire set off by welders doing repairs.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/