The Common Roots of Library and Museum in the Sixteenth Century: The Example of Munich

In the 16th century, large libraries developed in close proximity with Kunstkammern (cabinets of curiosities, art cabinets) and collections of antiques from the private study chambers, the so-called studioli, of aristocrats and humanist scholars. Within the scope of the art policy pursued by Duke Albert V of Bavaria, this development gained particular importance in Munich. At first, a close connection based on the study of antiquity was established between the court library and the collection of antiques by the Antiquarium, a separate Renaissance building that at the end of the 16th century on its upper floor housed a library comprising 17,000 volumes in a hall that was sixty meters long. When this building was used for different purposes, the library moved to another building next to the newly constructed building for the Kunstkammer, with which it was interconnected by an archway mirroring the close connection between these two institutions functionally as well. The common encyclopedic concept uniting both the Kunstkammer and the library was developed by Samuel Quicchelberg (based on the example of Munich), whose 'Inscriptiones vel Tituli Theatri Amplissimi,' also known as 'Theatrum Quicchebergi,' was published by Adam Berg in 1565. This publication was the beginning of museology in Germany. The Munich example is representative of the common development of museum and library in both theory and practice.