Today we had a tour of Blutenberg Castle where I
have been working at the Internationale Jugenbibliothek. The most amazing part
of the tour was going into the stacks
which have been dug under the central courtyard and learning about the
thousands of books that were donated by the League of Nations/United Nations in
Geneva. Jochen, our guide, and one of the language specialists, says that in that collection are some books from
central European countries which were destroyed during conflicts, and so now
are the only copies. Again, as part of the tour we saw four different permanent
exhibitions within the castle compound. Have a look here for more details http://www.ijb.de/en/exhibitions/permanent-exhibitions.html?noMobile=1
The first
was the Binette Schroeder exhibition in a space in the attic which used to be
used for storage until that was declared a fire hazard. Schroeder is a famous German
illustrator who has donated her complete children’s literature collection, and
samples of her non-illustrative painting. It is a beautifully designed space
with cabinetry designed by her husband and lots of boxes featuring samples of
her illustrations back lit when the boxes are opened.
The second
was a space devoted to Erich Kastner, of Emile and the Detectives fame who was
one of Jella Lepman’s friends and a big supporter of the International
Jugendbibliothek. His space is behind the clock tower in the castle.
The third
space was for the illustrator Michael Fromm whom I hadn’t heard of before, but
who has several famous titles including Momo
and Jim Knopf and Lucas the Locomotive
Driver. This legacy is housed in an upstairs space which used to be a flat for
international fellows to stay in.
The last
permanent exhibition was for the illustrator James Kruss, the 1968 Hans
Christian Andersen Medal winner, and was designed to fit in one of the castle
towers in a steel and glass structure which has been erected in the protected
tower structure without any wall fixings, a bit like the light houses which
feature in his books.
All this
plus an annually changing exhibition currently on insects, plus the
multilingual public lending library, plus the international travelling
exhibitions, the fellowship programme and the amazing resource of the team of
language specialists. What a treasure this library is.
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