Kassel's Murhard Library put medieval manuscripts back on view
After more than a decade in storage, the ninth-century Hildebrandslied and a Gutenberg Bible are in a new vault at the University of Kassel library.
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Medieval manuscripts that spent more than a decade in storage are back on public view at the Murhard Library in Kassel. Medievalists.net reported the reopening on October 28, 2026. The library, part of the University of Kassel, fully reopened last week after a renovation and expansion that began in 2017 and cost 17.9 million euros. A new exhibition vault is built to keep the pages stable and to show them.
The highlights include the Hildebrandslied, a ninth-century manuscript on two parchment leaves and the only surviving written copy of that early German heroic poem, now in a case made for it. Visitors can also see the fifteenth-century Immenhausen Gutenberg Bible and the fourteenth-century Willehalm Codex, in an exhibition called Treasures of Parchment and Paper.
The vault is 210 square meters, with better storage and security, and the historic Owl Hall, which holds up to 100 people, is open again for events. Claudia Martin-Konle, head of the university library, said the building can now offer modern reading rooms and show the collections safely. The library takes its name from brothers Friedrich and Karl Murhard, who left their fortune to Kassel in 1845. The neo-Renaissance building opened in 1905. With the work done, it can hold about 700,000 items. The news is the reopening and the return of those books to view.
For the classroom
Old handwritten books are on view again at the Murhard Library in Kassel, Germany. Medievalists.net reported the reopening on October 28, 2026. The books were stored for more than ten years during a rebuild that started in 2017 and cost 17.9 million euros. A new room lets visitors see fragile pages safely. One treasure is the Hildebrandslied, a ninth-century poem on two pieces of parchment, animal skin prepared for writing. It is the only surviving copy of that old German poem. A Gutenberg Bible and another medieval book are on view too. The news is that people can see them again.
- Why keep a book that is more than a thousand years old in a special case?
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