Manuscripts
SUB Göttingen holds a large collection of manuscripts from the Middle Ages to the 21st century, encompassing both European and Oriental works.
European Manuscripts
Middle Ages
SUB Göttingen preserves over 420 medieval manuscripts, reflecting a remarkable diversity of regions, languages, and subjects. While Latin manuscripts from Central Europe form the core of the collection, it also features many works in German dialects, English, French, and Greek. Theological and legal texts, along with writings on classical antiquity, are particularly well represented.
One of the most outstanding medieval manuscripts is the Fulda Sacramentary from the 10th century, decorated with over 500 partially gilded initials and more than 30 miniatures, making it a masterpiece of early medieval book art. The Göttingen Library also holds the two oldest surviving copies of the Bellifortis, originally dedicated to King Rupert of the Palatinate and King Wenceslaus of Bohemia. These richly illustrated codices provide a comprehensive insight into late medieval warfare while at the same time highlighting significant technical and cultural innovations.
(Early) Modern Period
With over 7,000 items, the library’s holdings of early modern and modern manuscripts reflect its long-standing focus on scholarship and learning. In the library’s early years, a particular emphasis was placed on legal studies. Numerous manuscripts and documents, primarily of a legal nature, were donated by Gerlach Adolph von Münchhausen, the University's first curator. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the collection grew substantially through notable additions such as the personal papers of Gottfried Achenwall in 1772, the collected letters of Theodor Strobel in 1796, and the correspondence of Johann David Michaelis in 1804.
From the 16th to the 18th centuries, SUB Göttingen systematically acquired manuscripts on German history, focusing on the regional history of Lower Saxony and Hanover and on Protestant church history. To this day, the library continues to enrich its collections on the history of the university through the acquisition of lecture notes, scholarly manuscripts, and Alba amicorum.
SUB Göttingen also preserves a small collection of music manuscripts, primarily works by Protestant church musicians from the late 17th to the 19th century. In 1928, the Protestant parish of Bösenrode entrusted them to the library as a permanent deposit.
Oriental Manuscripts
At SUB Göttingen, the term ‘Oriental manuscripts’ has been used since the 19th century to describe manuscripts written in Asian or African languages. The classification into a specific language family is based on the manuscript’s main language. Many of these classifications reflect 19th-century knowledge and do not always match the categories used in modern Asian and African linguistics.
The collection is organised into three main groups:
- Islamic manuscripts with texts in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish
- South Asian manuscripts
- Smaller groups and single items from the MENA region and Southeast Asia
Islamic Manuscripts
The origins of the collection are closely linked to the development of Oriental studies at the University of Göttingen. In 1748, the theologian and orientalist Johann David Michaelis offered the first course in Arabic studies. In 1788, the first Chair of Oriental Languages was established under his student Johann Gottfried Eichhorn. Eichhorn and numerous renowned Arabists who taught in Göttingen - including Thomas Christian Tychsen, Heinrich August Ewald, Ferdinand Wüstenfeld, Paul de Lagarde, Mark Lidzbarski and Hans Heinrich Schaeder - contributed significantly to the expansion of the ‘oriental’ manuscript collection. Around 250 Orientalia came to Göttingen through the donations of the Russian doctor and alumnus of the university, Georg Thomas von Asch. The majority of these were probably captured or acquired during Russia's wars with the Ottoman Empire.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the collection of Islamic manuscripts continued to grow through the acquisition of individual items, smaller collections and donations. The most recent significant addition was the Barudi Collection, which was purchased in 1995 with the support of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation. This is the library of a Damascene family of Hussainite origin, which has been maintained since the 18th century.
Southasian Manuscripts
SUB Göttingen houses more than 1,000 manuscripts from the Indian subcontinent, most in Sanskrit and dating from the 12th to the 20th century, with a strong focus on the 18th century and later. The collection features texts on Vedic and classical literature, religious law and ethics (dharma), ritual texts, and (Shaiva) philosophy, as well as texts on grammar, astronomy and astrology.
The library’s South Asian collection owes much to Franz Kielhorn, professor of Indology in Göttingen, who donated 83 manuscripts between 1887 and 1892. After his death, his widow contributed another 90 manuscripts. The Library further strengthened the collection in the early 1960s by acquiring four significant private Indian libraries: Cod. Ms. Sanscr. Mu., Cod. Ms. Sanscr. Madh., Cod. Ms. Sanscr. Sham., and Cod. Ms. Sanscr. Vish.
Search our Collections
Find our main manuscript databases and catalogues in the Search section. For more detailed information on selected collections, visit the Sammlungskatalog.
Use our Collections
Manuscripts can be consulted in the reading room of the Historical Building by appointment. For more information, see Visiting the Reading Room.
