Browsing in the library of the Capuchin monastery

The Capuchin Monastery Innsbruck is the oldest in Austria, Germany and South Tyrol. And it houses the provincial library of the Austrian Capuchin Province. The Library of the Capuchin monastery is thus the central library of the Order in Austria-South Tyrol

Just one year after the start of construction, the first members of the order moved in on 18 December 1594. Only a few years later an extension was made in order to set up a library. With the elevation to a study monastery in 1615, the library also grew considerably.

To visit the library, outsiders report to the gatekeeper and are met by provincial librarian Manfred Massani. Everything noisy and hectic remains outside, a pleasant silence envelops one. The Capuchins have dedicated themselves to a simple life of faith, their wing is separated from the publicly accessible areas such as the library.

Since the Capuchins saw themselves (and still see themselves) as pastors of the people, the focus was on works of sermons, piety literature, specialist literature from church history, legal and moral writings. But the Capuchins also collected secular literature, novels, edification books, dramas and poetry. For they wanted to know what people were reading, as Massani points out. With his colleague Miriam Trojer, he offers guided tours and workshops for schools, young people and adults.

The fact that numerous books could be acquired early on was thanks to Archduke Maximilian III. called the Deutschmeister. He was the provincial regent from 1602 to 1618, actively supported the monastery and issued a "chamber order", according to which the costs for purchased books had to be paid. In 1623 the monastery received its own librarian.

In addition, the book collections of other monasteries, such as Kitzbühel, Klagenfurt or Gmunden, can be found here. Like others, the Capuchin library also had a "poison cabinet" with books that were kept under lock and key because of their content and were only accessible to professors. Today this is no longer handled so strictly, Massani smiles.

Visitors can also browse online (around 78,000 books are recorded there), but a walk through the library rooms will make any book lover's heart beat faster. Just wandering through the shelves is a pleasure and conveys a lot about the history of the Capuchins, who were sent to all parts of the world for missionary work.

The friars learned the language of the local people and studied the culture of the countries, as evidenced by dictionaries and regional studies. Visitors should pay particular attention to the bindings of old books. This will show them that the idea of recycling is not a modern-day invention. Old manuscripts of music provided valuable services as bindings.

The incunabula are among the most valuable holdings. This is the name given to all printed manuscripts produced before 1500, i.e. in the first 50 years of book printing. In terms of layout, typography and illustration, they were still strongly oriented towards the manuscripts of the Middle Ages. Manfred Massani likes to fetch particularly beautiful incunabula from the archives and tell their story.

A real treasure is for example "Schatzbehalter der wahren Reichtümer des Heils" by the Franciscan preacher Stephan Fridolin. The book covers are made of cardboard or paper, which is not what the binding suggests. "Such covers protected old works from the Nazis, for example, who systematically searched libraries for valuable cultural assets and classified the contents as not particularly valuable on the basis of such covers," says Massani.

The "Treasure Holder" is decorated with 96 full-page woodcuts. These originated from Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleyenwurff, with whom Albrecht Dürer dürer served his apprenticeship. "It can be assumed that Dürer collaborated on these illustrations," Massani tells us as he carefully leafs through the book, pointing out special features and individual motifs.

To see such wonderfully illustrated books in real life is only one of many reasons to visit the library of the Capuchins in Innsbruck. Manfred Massani shows you the special features of the library, displays valuable writings and knows many anecdotes and details from the history of the monastery, monastic life.

Central Library of the Capuchins
Kaiserjägerstraße 6
6020 Innsbruck
Contact: Provincial Librarian Manfred Massani
Tel. +43 512 584914-27
Mail: manfred.massani@kapuziner.at
www.kapuziner.at
Current info on opening hours and the necessary Corona protection measures can be found at www.kapuziner.at/oeffnung

In addition to the library of the Capuchins, a number of other exciting libraries invite you to research and browse, the University and Provincial Library of Tyrol, for example, or the Innsbruck City Archives. My blogger colleague Verena Abenthung wrote a great article about the library of the Tyrolean Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum. Further information on other cultural institutions can be found at innsbruck.info

Photos, unless otherwise stated: © Susanne Gurschler