Franciscans of Bozen

Library of the Franciscans of Bozen

In 1221, or soon after, the first Friars Minor settled on the outskirts of Bozen. The uninterrupted presence of the order in Bozen since this time is verifiable. We do not know when an order library was established. An inscription testifies the relocation of the library to new accommodation in 1642. However, the origins of the library lay certainly two hundred years before this date. This is confirmed by the, at one time, 900 incunabula which we must assume, for the most part, to have been lost in the confusion of the 20th century wars and the impressive 16th century Humanist collection which is still intact.
Through the renovation of the library in the 1980s the prerequisites for future use of the collection were met. Today the Franciscan Library not only houses the collections of the Franciscan Monastery Libraries in Bozen, Kaltern, Innichen and Klosterlechfeld Bavaria, Germany but also offers space for the Capuchin collections from Bozen and Mals which are maintained as deposits in modern compact storage facilities. In total the collection comprises of approx. 120,000 items whereby 60,000 objects from the all encompassing Grammar School library with its more than two hundred year history should be added to the total.


 

Contact
Franciscan Convent of Bozen
Library
Franziskanergasse 1
I-39100 Bozen
 
Reference Person: P. Dr. Willibald Hopfgartner
Phone: [+39] 0471 977474
Library Structure