The
Bibliotheca Bodmeriana (or
Bodmer Library) is located in
ColognyCologny is a municipality in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland.On the heights of Geneva, it offers breathtaking views on the lake Léman and houses a prestigious golf course, the Geneva Golf Club. It is the headquarters of the World Economic Forum. The area consists mainly of villa-style residential...
,
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
just outside
GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
. The library was established by Martin Bodmer. It is famous as the home of the
Bodmer PapyriThe Bodmer Papyri are a group of twenty-two papyri discovered in Egypt in 1952. They are named after Martin Bodmer who purchased them. The papyri contain segments from the Old and New Testaments, early Christian literature, Homer and Menander. The oldest, P66 dates to c. 200. The papyri...
. Some of these papyri are among the oldest remaining copies of the
New TestamentThe New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christian Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament, both terms being associated with Supersessionism...
. Some manuscripts are written in Greek, other in Coptic (f.e.
Papyrus Bodmer III). First form the manuscripts was purchased in 1956 (
Papyrus Bodmer II — P
66).
The
Bibliotheca Bodmeriana (or
Bodmer Library) is located in
ColognyCologny is a municipality in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland.On the heights of Geneva, it offers breathtaking views on the lake Léman and houses a prestigious golf course, the Geneva Golf Club. It is the headquarters of the World Economic Forum. The area consists mainly of villa-style residential...
,
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
just outside
GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
. The library was established by Martin Bodmer. It is famous as the home of the
Bodmer PapyriThe Bodmer Papyri are a group of twenty-two papyri discovered in Egypt in 1952. They are named after Martin Bodmer who purchased them. The papyri contain segments from the Old and New Testaments, early Christian literature, Homer and Menander. The oldest, P66 dates to c. 200. The papyri...
. Some of these papyri are among the oldest remaining copies of the
New TestamentThe New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christian Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament, both terms being associated with Supersessionism...
. Some manuscripts are written in Greek, other in Coptic (f.e.
Papyrus Bodmer III). First form the manuscripts was purchased in 1956 (
Papyrus Bodmer II — P
66). It also houses a copy of the
Gutenberg BibleThe Gutenberg Bible was one of the first books printed in Europe. It is an edition of the Vulgate, printed by Johannes Gutenberg, in Mainz, Germany in the 1450s...
.
History
Martin Bodmer established the library in the 1920s. Bodmer selected the works centering around what he saw as the five pillars of
world literatureWorld literature refers to literature from all over the world, including African literature, Arabic literature, American literature, Latin-American literature, Caribbean Literature, Asian literature, European literature and Australasian literature.-History:...
:
BibleThe Bible contains the central religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Modern Judaism generally recognizes a single set of canonical books known as the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, as it is written almost entirely in the Hebrew language, with some small portions in Aramaic...
,
HomerHomer is a legendary ancient Greek epic poet, traditionally said to be the author of the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey...
,
Dante AlighieriDurante degli Alighieri , commonly known as Dante, was an Italian poet of the Middle Ages. His central work, the Divina Commedia , is often considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature.In...
,
William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
and
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer and polymath. Goethe's works span the fields of poetry, drama, literature, theology, philosophy, humanism and science. Goethe's magnum opus, lauded as one of the peaks of world literature, is the two-part drama Faust...
. He prioritized autographs and first editions. 1951 Bodmer had built two neo-baroque houses in Cologny to accommodate the collection. In 1970, shortly before Bodmer's death, the
Fondation Martin Bodmer was established to make the collection accessible and conserve it. 2003 the building was remodeled by
Mario BottaMario Botta is a Swiss architect.He studied at the Liceo Artistico in Milan and the IUAV in Venice. His ideas were influenced by Le Corbusier, Carlo Scarpa, Louis Kahn. He opened his own practice in 1970 in Lugano....
. He connected the cellars of the two houses by a two-story underground structure, pierced by light shafts.
Items
The collection comprises some 160,000 items, including Sumerian clay tablets, Greek papyri and handwritten originals including music sheets. He aimed at representing the historical context by adding political, philosophical and scientific items. Some samples are:
- Oldest surviving copy of the Gospel of James
The Gospel of James, also sometimes known as the Infancy Gospel of James or the Protoevangelium of James, is an apocryphal Gospel probably written about AD 150. The Gospel of James may be the earliest surviving document attesting the veneration of Mary by stating her perpetual virginity and...
- A Gutenberg Bible
The Gutenberg Bible was one of the first books printed in Europe. It is an edition of the Vulgate, printed by Johannes Gutenberg, in Mainz, Germany in the 1450s...
, 1452
- First edition print of Martin Luther
Martin Luther changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could...
's Ninety-Five Theses, 1517
- A copy of Newton's Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica once owned by Gottfried Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a German philosopher, polymath and mathematician who wrote primarily in Latin and French....
- Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was a German writer, philosopher, dramatist, publicist, and art critic, and one of the most outstanding representatives of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the development of German literature.-Life:Lessing was born in...
's draft manuscript of Nathan the Wise, 1778
- Papyrus 66
Papyrus 66 is a near complete codex of the Gospel of John, and part of the collection known as the Bodmer Papyri.- Description :...
, Papyrus 73Papyrus 73 , designated by 73, is a copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of Matthew...
and Papyrus 74Papyrus 74 , designated by 74, is a copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Acts of the Apostles and Catholic epistles with lacunae. The manuscript paleographically had been assigned to the 7th century.- Description :ContentsThe surviving texts are...
- Original manuscript scroll of The 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis De Sade
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary and writer. His works include novels, short stories, plays, and political tracts; in his lifetime some were published under his own name, while others appeared anonymously and Sade denied being their author...
.
External links