4 May 2021 press release

10 years since the fourth extension in Leipzig – when will the fifth be ready?

Ten years have passed since the fourth extension of the German National Library’s building was formally opened on 9 May 2011 (the main building was inaugurated in 1916). “Steady growth in the production of knowledge depends on suitable infrastructures; in the Federal Republic of Germany, the pillars of these infrastructures include the German National Library with its locations in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main,” said the former Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media Bernd Neumann at the inauguration of the extension in Leipzig. The planning for a fifth extension has now begun.

The newest part of the building on Deutscher Platz, which houses the temporary and permanent exhibitions of the German Museum of Books and Writing and the German Music Archive, has quickly became a firm place in Leipzig’s cultural landscape. The modern, spacious reading rooms in both areas complement the stylistic diversity of the work environments provided for users. Other public facilities include a listening booth, a museum education gallery for children and adolescents, and a “vault” displaying some of the most remarkable items in the collection. Along with extensive stacks and a sound studio, the extension also contains work and office space from where library operations are kept running smoothly. Designed by Stuttgart-based architect Gabriele Glöckler, the building bridges the historical gap between the book tower and the magnificent main building, bringing them together as a cohesive ensemble. The concept “Umschlag – Hülle – Inhalt” (Cover – Shell – Content) on which the design is based is a visual representation of the building’s function as a library.

The combination of historic main building, lofty book tower and modern extension has made the German National Library’s building ensemble in Leipzig an ever more popular subject for architectural photography. The extension is a perfect symbiosis of beauty and functionality, offering ideal conditions for storage, work and general use while meeting high standards of aesthetics, technology and economic efficiency. In the spring, when everything flowers, the cherry garden next to the library’s book tower is an additional draw for visitors and anyone seeking beautiful subjects for photos.2 / 6. Mai 2021

The German National Library’s Leipzig site alone requires some four kilometres of additional shelving every year for all the new media it receives. This means that the fourth extension’s storage capacity will be exhausted in 2022. Needs assessments, best-practice analyses and preliminary planning for the essential fifth extension to the Leipzig building have long since begun; necessary interim solutions for the construction phase are also being developed. The extension will be located directly on the DNB’s premises. Like the book tower, which was renovated ten years ago, and the stack floors in the fourth extension, which are the size of football pitches and have their own geothermal system under Deutscher Platz, the new extension will contain stacks providing optimum conditions for the storage of media works such as books, periodicals, sound recordings and data carriers; due attention will also be paid to environmental and climate protection considerations. The German National Library’s architecture will accordingly become another part of Germany’s seminal cultural memory.

Background

For more than 100 years, the German National Library has been collecting, documenting and archiving all media works in text, image and sound format published in Germany since 1913 along with foreign publications about Germany or in the German language; these are then made available to the public. It offers a comprehensive range of services at its sites in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main along with digital services that can be accessed all over the world insofar as this is permitted by copyright.

The German National Library also holds extensive special collections of inestimable value in the German Exile Archive 1933–1945 and the German Museum of Books and Writing. It regularly organises readings, exhibitions, presentations and concerts to draw attention to its treasures and promotes a culture of books, reading and music with more than 40 million media units, around 220,000 visitors a year to its premises in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main, with a vibrant programme of top-class events that will also take place online.

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Images for editorial use

Press image material is only available in German