Erfurt City Museum Exhibits Selected Codices from the "Bibliotheca Amploniana"

The display case in the city museum, which is part of the permanent exhibition on the medieval city, will then be filled with a new book four times a year so that there is always something new to discover. The first treasure on display will be a richly decorated manuscript from the 13th century containing various texts on natural philosophy.

In 1412, Amplonius Rating de Berka founded the college "Zur Himmelspforte" (Collegium Porta Coeli) to provide for and support students at the university. Amplonius himself had studied in Erfurt from 1392 and became the first doctor of medicine and second rector here. In 1410, he owned a collection of 633 manuscripts, a uniquely large collection for his time, the core of which has been preserved to this day. He listed his books in a catalogue, donated them to his college and decreed that every scholarship holder had to leave at least one book to the library after completing their studies. As a result, the Amplonian collection grew over the centuries, initially to include further manuscripts, incunabula after 1450 and later more recent prints. The "Bibliotheca Amploniana" is the property of the City of Erfurt and has been housed in the Erfurt University Library since 2002, where it is properly stored, conserved, catalogued, digitised and researched.