Exhibitions 2018
"Blossom, German Florence!" Dresden and Italy
The poet and philosopher Johann Gottfried von Herder described the art city of Dresden as the "German Florence" and thus coined its nickname "Florence on the Elbe", which is still in use today. The diverse relationships between Dresden and Italy are not only evident in the art collections and architecture, but also in the holdings of the SLUB. In the exhibition "Blossom, German Florence!"Dresden and Italy, selected treasures from seven centuries are on display, including a 15th-century manuscript listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site, musical sources from the early days of the Dresden court chapel, the manuscripts of King John of Saxony's translation of Dante and various travelogues.
Exhibition from 8 November 2018 to 5 May 2019, daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Treasury of the SLUB Book Museum
Shared memories: The photo album - pinned, glued, posted
With this exhibition, the Deutsche Fotothek is presenting its extensive collection of albums to the public for the first time. In the SLUB's book museum, a short photographic cultural history of the photo album in all its facets can be seen with numerous highlights from a century and a half. Thematically, the exhibition ranges from the generally known family and scrapbooks to travel and war albums to albums that were created on the occasion of anniversaries or for the presentation of projects and products.
The exhibition "Shared Memories - The Photo Album: Pinned, Glued, Posted" can be seen from 16 October 2018 to 22 April 2019 at the SLUB Book Museum. Admission is free.to the online catalogue
"I am still constantly thought of in Dresden." Winckelmann - librarian and classical scholar
250 years ago, on 8 June 1768, Johann Joachim Winckelmann, founder of the scientific disciplines of classical archaeology and art history, was the victim of a dastardly murder in Trieste. The life of the cobbler's son, born in Stendal in 1717, was characterised by the search for ideal beauty, which was revealed to him in Greek antiquity, literature and art in the libraries and collections of Dresden and Rome. The exhibition "People are still thinking about me in Dresden." Winckelmann - Librarian and Classical Scholar , with books, manuscripts and handwritten letters as well as loans from the Dresden State Art Collections, commemorates the scholar who spent seven formative years in Nöthnitz and Dresden as librarian to Count Heinrich von Bünau.
Exhibition from 30 May to 2 September 2018, daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Book Museum. EXTENDED until 21 October 2018
We would like to thank the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung and the Kulturstiftung der Länder, with whose financial support the Winckelmann letters shown in the exhibition were acquired in 2017.
Magnificent and festive Dresden
When Moritz of Saxony (1521-1553) became elector in 1547, Dresden became a royal seat. His ambitious plans to rebuild the palace were continued by his brother, Elector Augustus (1526-1586), and the city on the Elbe developed into a political and cultural centre. The establishment of the electoral collections contributed to this. Today's SLUB can be traced back to the Elector's private library, which was established around 1556. The selection from the holdings of the SLUB presented in the exhibition "Magnificent and Festive Dresden" illustrates the magnificent character of the original "Liberey" on the one hand, but also draws a link to the festivities that were to characterise the later Florence on the Elbe for centuries: festive parades and processions, hunts and festive music.
Exhibition from 15 February to 15 May 2018, daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Treasury of the SLUB Book Museum