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Opening of the Exhibition “In Pursuit of Knowledge: Six Hundred Years of Leipzig University, 1409-2009”
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On September 9th the Grolier Club opened the exhibition "In Pursuit of Knowledge", organized by Leipzig University Library to commemorate the 600th anniversary of Leipzig University.The exhibition is also promoted by the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The President of the Grolier Club, Mr. William Helfand, welcomed Consul General Horst Freitag who depicted some interesting insights into Leipzig’s history and some of today’s challenges referring to books. The curator of this exhibition, Professor Ulrich Johannes Schneider, who is also the Director of Leipzig University Library, mentioned fascinating details about the exhibited treasures. Chief among the treasures on display are two leaves from the oldest complete Bible manuscript in existence, the Codex Sinaiticus (ca. 350), the Mongolian Koran (1306), and the Machsor Lipsiae (1320), one of the most beautiful examples of medieval bookmaking. These incomparable icons of three great “peoples of the book” represent only a sampling of the riches of the Leipzig University Library.
Other significant objects on display are:
- A section of the Ebers Papyrus, the largest surviving medicalm manuscript from antiquity, written in the 16th century BC
- A papyrus fragment from a 2nd-century scroll listing Egyptian kings and containing the oldest known calendar of world events.
- The earliest-known medieval portrait of Homer.
- The description of the prefecture of Hangzhou in East China.Printed in 1579 in Leipzig, it is the only complete copy in existence outside of The People's Republic of China, and Taiwan.
- A southern Italian landscape fantasy, with a sphinx on the path leading to a seaside villa, from a sketchbook used by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) on his journey to Naples and Sicily in 1787. The pencil drawing came to the University Library as part of the Goethe collection of the Leipzig publisher Salomon Hirzel (1804–1877).
The exhibition will be on view until November 21. If you are interested, it is highly recommended to take advantage of the free public tours organized by Professor Schneider. For dates and further details, please visit http://www.inpursuitofknowledge.org or http://www.grolierclub.org.
Read the remarks of the Consul General on the exhibition opening
