_Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin

Berlin, Germany

The Berlin State Library was founded in 1661 by Frederick William of Brandenburg as the 'Library of the Prince‐elector'. In 1701, the library was renamed 'Royal Library of Berlin' and kept this name until the end of the monarchy in Germany in 1918, then renamed as the 'Prussian State Library'. During World War II, the entire holdings (at the time some three million books and other materials) were taken to be hidden in safe places among 30 monasteries, castles and disused mines. A part of its collection were returned to the original Berlin site at Unter den Linden (in the East) after 1945, and some relocated items were initially brought to West Germany, and stored after the late 1970s in the new building on Potsdamer Straße in Berlin (in the West). Some items of the collection are still located in Poland and the territories of the former Soviet Union.

From 1992, the reunited Berlin State Library of Prussian Cultural Heritage provides a service at both of its locations, in the district of Mitte, Unter den Linden 8 and Potsdamer Straße 33.

Address

_Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Potsdamer Straße 33, 10785 Berlin, Germany, Google Maps