While it was burning during the night of September 2, 2004 people came in droves – not to gape, but to help. The gem of German cultural history was in flames: Weimar’s ducal library, bearing the name of its most significant patron since 1991, the Anna Amalia Library.

The extent of damage was disconcerting: About 50,000 books were consumed in the fire, including irreplaceable unique copies from the 16th and 17th centuries. Another 62,000 volumes were seriously damaged by the fire and the water used in fighting it. Following the catastrophe the willingness to help was overwhelming: Donations came from all over the world and in an impressive show of strength the Foundation of Weimar Classics succeeded in restoring the library palace with its famed white-golden gallery hall and opening it up again to the public on schedule for the 200th anniversary of the death of Anna Amalia.

However, it will still take decades to rebuild the inventory of the classic universal library to the extent possible by restoring the “damaged goods”, in the meantime being stored in frozen state, and through acquisitions on the international antiques market. And even afterwards it won’t be possible without reservation to call this the library the books in which the great German poets Wieland and Goethe, Schiller and Herder once worked.

Unwittingly, Anna Amalia saved her considerably enlarged collection from the first conflagration that burned the Weimar palace residence to the ground in 1774: Because in the 1760s she had the “Green Palace” built in Renaissance style restored and refashioned into a library. A Rococo book repository arose, which despite the warlike period reflected the spirit of the Enlightenment safely and soundly.

Goethe characterised his benefactress, Anna Amalia, as “a most charming, admirable, but indefinable creature”, who was not destined from birth to assume an excellent position in cultural history as both a personality and symbol. Born in 1739 as the fifth child of Karl I, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Princess Philippine Charlotte of Prussia, Anna Amalia had a bleak childhood. “Unloved, neglected by my parents…I was only called a reject of nature,” she wrote later on in a retrospect of her life, and her dynastically contrived marriage turned out to be equally without glamour. While still 16 she was betrothed to the Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.

The young couple quickly fulfilled its prime duty of ensuring a successor to the throne, but prior to the birth of their second son the sickly duke departed the early realm. The mother of the land was faced with scarcely solvable problems while still not of age. Only narrowly did the niece of Frederick the Great manage to keep the ship of state of the highly indebted duchy above water until her son, Carl August, came of age.

It’s a legend that Anna Amalia reformed the country and handed it over to her son in good order. Her impetuous privy councillor Goethe deemed the circumstances in 1776 as quite simply “shitty”. She was also incapable of installing a “Musenhof” during her regency, however, with the appointment of Christoph Martin Wieland as the tutor to the prince she succeeded in a significant setting of the course. The poet not only charmed the young widow in all respects, but also inspired Carl August. Goethe’s appreciation of the duchess as the keeper of “her” library is no legend: “Revering the lofty, enjoying the beautiful, acting for good.”

Duchess Anna Amalia Library: Platz der Demokratie 4, 99423 Weimar. Open for individuals from Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., closed Mondays, price includes audio guide and cultural promotion fee, adults EUR 6.50, reduced price EUR 5.50, pupils EUR 3.

Tickets for individual visitors and groups can be booked from visitor information. Due to the limited numbers of visitors allowed prior booking is recommended: Foundation of Weimar Classics, Visitor information (Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.), Frauentorstr. 4, Tel. +49 (3643) 545-401/-402-403), Fax 41 98 16; info@klassik-stiftung.de

A variety of hotels in Weimar offer the option of booking two overnight stays and a visit to the reopened library for a flat fee. Further information at www.weimar.de