Würzburg Cathedral Library

The library of the old Würzburg bishopric ranks among the most prestigious medieval manuscript collections in Central Europe. Of unique importance are its holdings of early medieval codices: 94 out of 214 manuscripts still preserved in Würzburg are dating from the 5th to the 9th centuries, among them the largest collection of manuscripts influenced by Anglo-Saxon script traditions and insular iconographic models on the Continent.

It must have been shortly after the establishment of the diocese of Würzburg in the year 742, when the foundations of this unrivaled library were laid. Until the “Secularisation”, the dissolution of the ecclesiastical principalities of the Holy Roman Empire in 1803, the library belonged to the cathedral St. Kilian in Wuerzburg - years of changeful history while the library’s fame endured: Würzburg travellers of the 18th century still considered the Cathedral Library a must-see on their programme.