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Day 25: A tour of the library

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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