Monastery Libraries

The chained library and the scriptorium. St Gallen, Admont, Strahov, Melk, Hereford, the Joanina at Coimbra, the Escorial, the rooms where books were copied, kept and read for a thousand years, and which mostly still look exactly as they did.

Part of Books

56 moments in this segment.

1. 1150 - Aethicus, Handschrift, Benediktinerstift Admont, Stiftsbibliothek, Fragm. C 472 (Ende des Werks und Alphabet). Admont, Benedictine Abbey, Fragment C 472 (formerly Cod. 472, fol. 1f/2r): This fragment was embedded for centuries in Codex 472 of the Benedictine Abbey of Admont, a Sedulius manuscript from the 12th century. During the restoration of the binding in 1952, it was removed. Winfried Stelzer identified the fragment as an early version of the Cosmography of Aethicus, dating to the late 9th century. He
2. 1892 - 097 - Escorial - die Bibliothek. ung Constantin Uhde, Baudenkmäler in Spanien und Portugal. Aufnahmen einer Reise 1988-1989 Berlin, Verlag von Ernst Wasmuth 1892.
3. 2008 - Trinity college library. The Old Library Building at Trinity College Dublin with the “Long Room”, housing ancient manuscripts including the Book of Kells.
4. 2009 - Austria - Melk Abbey Library - 1865. Melk Abbey Library, Austria. Coat of arms of the abbot Adrian Pliemel.
5. 2009 - Austria - Melk Abbey Library - 1884. A library. Modern photograph of the building or interior as it stands today.
6. 2009 - Austria - Melk Abbey Library - 1896. A library. Modern photograph of the building or interior as it stands today.
7. 2010-06-03 - The Abbey of St Gall. UNESCO and NHK on the Carolingian monastery whose library, founded in the 8th century, holds one of the oldest and richest collections of early medieval manuscripts in Europe.
8. 2011 - Bibliothèque de Trinity College. A library. Modern photograph of the building or interior as it stands today.
9. 2012 - Trigge 02. The Francis Trigge Chained Library at Grantham, founded 1598 and reckoned the first public reference library in England. Modern photograph.
10. 2012 - Trigge 03. The Francis Trigge Chained Library at Grantham, founded 1598 and reckoned the first public reference library in England. Modern photograph.
11. 2012 - Trigge 01. The Francis Trigge Chained Library at Grantham, founded 1598 and reckoned the first public reference library in England. Modern photograph.
12. 2013-09-20 - Building a twenty-first-century Bodleian. A behind-the-scenes look at how Oxford's main library moved and stored millions of volumes.
13. 2013-12-18 - The Bodleian and the Vatican digitise together. Kristian Jensen on the 2012 joint project between the two libraries.
14. 2013-12-18 - Digitising the Vatican and Bodleian collections together. Interview on the 2012 joint project between the Bodleian Libraries and the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana to digitise Hebrew manuscripts, Greek manuscripts and incunabula from both collections.
15. 2013-12-18 - Christopher de Hamel on the Bodleian-Vatican project. The manuscript scholar on the significance of putting two of the great historic collections online side by side.
16. 2014-03-06 - Rebuilding the Bodleian's Weston Library. Timelapse of the renovation of the New Bodleian into the Weston Library, reopened in 2015.
17. 2014-03-27 - Digitisation at the Bodleian. Why digitising old books is far more than photography, and what it opens up for research.
18. 2015 - Postcard of The Chained Library. Hereford Cathedral (undated). Postcard. Postally unused. Printed by Waterlow & Sons Limited. Bought from an eBay seller in Chantecorps, France. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hereford_Cathedral#Crypt_and_library en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chained_Library "Chaining books was the most widespread and effective security system in European libraries from the midd...
19. 2015 - La Filosofía, Real Biblioteca del Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial. El Padre Sigüenza sitúa La Filosofía en el frontón norte de la sala, comienzo de su programa pictórico.
20. 2015 - El Escorial 108. A library. Modern photograph of the building or interior as it stands today.
21. 2015 - Gezicht op de Trinity College Library te Dublin A prospect of the Library of Trinity College, Dublin (titel op. A library. Modern photograph of the building or interior as it stands today.
22. 2017-03-28 - Explore the Bodleian Library. Oxford's Bodleian introduces the medieval Divinity School and Duke Humfrey's Library.
23. 2017 - Bibliothekskater Linus, Herzog August Bibliothek. Der große und der kleine Bibliothekskater der Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel.
24. 2017 - Praha, Hradčany Strahovský klášter 20170905 008. A library. Modern photograph of the building or interior as it stands today.
25. 2017-10-04 - 2017-10-04 Chained Library, Hereford. The chained library at Hereford Cathedral, where 1,500 books are still chained to the shelves. Modern photograph.
26. 2019 - Strahovský Klášter, Hradčany, Praha, Hlavní Město Praha, Česká Republika. A library. Modern photograph of the building or interior as it stands today.
27. 2019 - Magazingebäude Herzog August Bibliothek (Wolfenbüttel). A library. Modern photograph of the building or interior as it stands today.
28. 2019 - Strahovský Klášter, Hradčany, Praha, Hlavní Město Praha, Česká Republika - Warren LeMay from Cullowhee. A library. Modern photograph of the building or interior as it stands today.
29. 2019-08-20 - 2019-08-20 Hereford Cathedral Library 01. The chained library at Hereford Cathedral, where 1,500 books are still chained to the shelves. Modern photograph.
30. 2019-08-20 - 2019-08-20 Hereford Cathedral Library 02. The chained library at Hereford Cathedral, where 1,500 books are still chained to the shelves. Modern photograph.
31. 2019-08-20 - 2019-08-20 Hereford Cathedral Library 03. The chained library at Hereford Cathedral, where 1,500 books are still chained to the shelves. Modern photograph.
32. 2019-08-20 - 2019-08-20 Hereford Cathedral Library 04. The chained library at Hereford Cathedral, where 1,500 books are still chained to the shelves. Modern photograph.
33. 2020 - 20200203 BibliotecaJoanina 5703. A library. Modern photograph of the building or interior as it stands today.
34. 2020 - 20200203 BibliotecaJoanina 5702. A library. Modern photograph of the building or interior as it stands today.
35. 2020 - 20200203 BibliotecaJoanina 5704. A library. Modern photograph of the building or interior as it stands today.
36. 2020 - Francis Trigge library 02. The Francis Trigge Chained Library at Grantham, founded 1598 and reckoned the first public reference library in England. Modern photograph.
37. 2020 - Biblioteca Malatestiana Antica Banchi e Finestre. A library. Modern photograph of the building or interior as it stands today.
38. 2020-09-23 - Oxford 700: the first purpose-built library. The Bodleian marks 700 years since Oxford decided to build a central library.
39. 2021-05-21 - Funding the Old Library redevelopment. Irish government announcement of funding for the restoration of the Long Room at Trinity College Dublin.
40. 2021 - Admont Abbey Library books 2. A library. Modern photograph of the building or interior as it stands today.
41. 2021 - Admont Abbey Library books 4. A library. Modern photograph of the building or interior as it stands today.
42. 2021 - Admont Abbey Library books 3. A library. Modern photograph of the building or interior as it stands today.
43. 2022-09-13 - The world's largest surviving chained library. A visit to Hereford Cathedral's chained library and Mappa Mundi.
44. 2022-12-22 - Admont Abbey library becomes internet famous. AFP on the Benedictine abbey library in Styria, the largest monastic library room in the world, and what social-media attention has done to a Baroque hall built for monks.
45. 2022-12-24 - The chained library at Hereford Cathedral. A visit to Hereford's surviving chained library and the Mappa Mundi housed alongside it.
46. 2023-04-27 - Emptying the Long Room. Trinity College Dublin timelapse of the Old Library decant: by the end of April 2023 six kilometres of books had been removed from the Long Room for the conservation project.
47. 2023 - Filzpantoffeln Stiftsbibliothek St.Gallen. Besucher in der Stiftsbibliothek St.Gallen müssen diese Filzpantoffeln tragen, um die Böden zu schonen. Die Stiftsbibliothek ist Weltkulturerbe.
48. 2024 - A portal of Abbey Library of St. Gallen. A library. Modern photograph of the building or interior as it stands today.
49. 2024 - A portal of Abbey Library of St. Gallen cutout. A library. Modern photograph of the building or interior as it stands today.
50. 2025-01-27 - The Abbey Library of St Gallen. One of the oldest monastic libraries in the world, in a Baroque hall built over a collection begun in the eighth century.
51. 2025-04-07 - Inside the Abbey Library of Saint Gall. A longer tour of the St Gallen abbey library and its manuscript holdings.
52. 2025 - 1047185 II BODLEIAN LIBRARY AND SCHOOLS QUADRANGLE INCLUDING THE DIVINITY SCHOOL AND THE CONVOCATION HOUSE, RA. Oxford: BODLEIAN LIBRARY AND SCHOOLS QUADRANGLE INCLUDING THE DIVINITY SCHOOL AND THE CONVOCATION HOUSE, RADCLIFFE SQUARE.
53. 2025 - 1047185 I BODLEIAN LIBRARY AND SCHOOLS QUADRANGLE INCLUDING THE DIVINITY SCHOOL AND THE CONVOCATION HOUSE, fro. Oxford: BODLEIAN LIBRARY AND SCHOOLS QUADRANGLE INCLUDING THE DIVINITY SCHOOL AND THE CONVOCATION HOUSE, from S.
54. 2025 - 1047185 I BODLEIAN LIBRARY AND SCHOOLS QUADRANGLE INCLUDING THE DIVINITY SCHOOL AND THE CONVOCATION HOUSE, fro - Tilman2007. Oxford: BODLEIAN LIBRARY AND SCHOOLS QUADRANGLE INCLUDING THE DIVINITY SCHOOL AND THE CONVOCATION HOUSE, from S.
55. 2026-02-04 - Ten years of the Vatican Library digital archive. A report on a decade of the project to digitise and preserve the Vatican's manuscripts.
56. 2026-08-16 - Libraries don't die in a day. A long-form account of the Library of Alexandria that rejects the single-fire myth.