500 years of the Protestant hymn books

Black or brown book spines are lined up here – interrupted by grey boxes containing particularly fragile hymnals with pronounced signs of use. The approximately 3,000 volumes include hymnbooks from various denominations from the 16th century onwards from the Old Reich and beyond. Among them are numerous territorial hymnals for use in church services and schools, but also hymnals for home devotions or for specific groups of people such as travellers, the sick or children. The hymnals illustrate how hymns have played an important role in communicating the Protestant message and the practice of faith since the Reformation.

To mark the anniversary of 500 years of Protestant hymn books, a new article has now been published on the blog of the Gotha Research Library at the University of Erfurt, which provides insights into Johann Christoph Olearius' hymnbook collection and the beginnings of hymnology.

Read the article here! (in German only)