Bavarian State Library in Munich: Tips and information

Why is a visit to the Bavarian State Library worthwhile?

The Bavarian State Library is considered a treasure house of written cultural heritage. It is not only an important address for researchers and students, but also worth a visit to the exhibition. 

What is on offer? Annually changing exhibitions (on the upper floor) provide insights into the library's extensive holdings, for example from the important manuscript collection or the numerous photo archives.

What is special? The entire historic library building and its magnificent staircase.

History and Media of the State Library

The Bavarian State Library in Munich goes back to the court library of the Wittelsbach dynasty, which was established in 1558 at the request of Duke Albrecht V. The Bavarian State Library is located on Ludwigstraße. It moved into its current building on Ludwigstrasse, designed by Friedrich von Gärtner on behalf of King Ludwig I, in 1843.

Precious manuscripts, rare prints and extensive special collections make the library's holdings unique to this day. As the central state and archive library of the Free State of Bavaria, it has almost 35 million media units (including 11 million volumes, over 54,000 periodicals and 141,000 manuscripts). Approximately 125,000 volumes are added each year.

The Stabi is also constantly expanding its online offerings: Be it through the mass digitization of the holdings or, for example, in the area of electronic journals. With over 2.7 million digitized works, it has the largest digital database of all German libraries. And since it also took over the analog photo archive of Stern magazine in 2019, it also owns the largest publicly funded image archive in Germany.