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The library gets its own building
The ‘Kommode’ at Opera Square
Johann Georg Rosenberg: Vue de la Place de l’Opéra et de la nouvelle Bibliothèque […], Berlin, 1782.
The First Library Buildings
Around the middle of the 17th century there was a small collection of books in the attics of the electoral palace. Johann Raue, appointed librarian in 1658, started the revision, cataloguing and arrangement by subject of the collection. After the Peace of Oliva (1660) ending the war, Raue could accommodate the library on the first floor of the apothecary wing of the electoral palace. Still under its founder, Elector Friedrich Wilhelm, it was planned to enlarge the library building. Eventually, King Friedrich II gave the order to erect a new building for the library at Opernplatz, construction works started in 1775.
The library gets its own building
During the reign of Friedrich the Great, a special building was erected at Opera Square in Berlin. Georg Friedrich Boumann constructed the building between 1775 and 1784 with Georg Christian Unger as the architect. It was modelled on St. Michael’s Wing in the Hofburg in Vienna, which was designed by Joseph Emanuel Fischer of Erlach, son of the famous Austrian Baroque architect Johann Bernhard Fischer of Erlach. Due to its rather unusual façade, the building was nicknamed ‘Kommode’.
Königliche Bibliothek in Berlin, Main Reading Room, 1905. SBB-PK
The main part of the building was designed as a Baroque library hall, which at the time stored around 150,000 volumes. Initially, the reading room was in a neighbouring building. Even though the library was newly constructed in the 18th century and included neighbouring buildings, it soon became clear that it was too small.
During the 19th century, several proposals were made to construct a new building (for example by Karl Friedrich Schinkel). However, the library remained at Opera Square for another 130 years. It was not until the year 1914 that the Haus Unter den Linden was established as the library’s new home.
Königliche Bibliothek in Berlin, Manuscripts Reading Room, 2nd floor, 1905. SBB-PK
