An elaborate two-story rococo hall inside an 11th-century abbey is so ornate that it is considered one of the world’s most beautiful libraries.
Wiblingen Abbey is a grand monastery located south of the city of Ulm in the south German state of Baden-Württemberg. It was founded in 1093 for the Benedictine monks. It became widely renowned for its discipline, in particular its “scriptorium,” a room where the monks produced highly detailed, illustrated works of literature.
The plan for a two-story library in the northern wing of the abbey emerged in 1740 under Abbot Meinrad Hamberger. According to the author Jacques Bosser in his book, “The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World,” the abbot wanted a space that would “awaken a new desire and a new love for spiritual and learned exercises among the monks.”
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The space needed to be as beautiful as it was studious. Informed by the luxurious tastes of Louis XIV, the rococo style was in full swing in Europe by the 18th century. Rococo’s flair for ornate details and soft pastel shades lent perfectly to the elaborate library hall Hamberger envisioned.
According to the Wiblingen Monastery website, the abbot commissioned artist Franz Martin Kuen to produce the stunning, iconographic frescoes that decorate the hall ceiling. Kuen started in 1744 and finished the mammoth work in just six months, using paints from natural pigments.
At the center of the painting is a female figure that is surrounded by angels.
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After studying with the Italian rococo painters Tiepolo and Piazzetta in Italy for six years, Kuen returned to Wiblingen and finished adorning the hall with portraits of historical figures.
The library hall itself is a simple 74.5- by 36-foot rectangle. It’s decorated with marble floors and columns, gold statues and intricately-carved doors, and once had two stories of books numbering over 15,000. The book spines were painted white or covered with light-colored paper to make them blend in with the fresco design above them.
However, of these, only 96 original books remain since most were stolen by the French during the Napoleonic wars of 1803 to 1815 and the rest were confiscated by the king of Württemberg during secularization.
A staircase connects the first and second stories of the library hall, and the central floor is circled by eight painted wooden statues carved by Dominikus Hermenegild Herberger, representing Jurisprudence, Natural Science, Mathematics, History, Obedience, Renunciation of the World, Faith, and Prayer. Above the entrance doors is a Latin inscription celebrating the library’s rich bounty which reads, as translated: All the treasures of wisdom and science.
In the 1840s, Wiblingen Abbey was used as a military barracks on and off until the end of the Second World War. After the war, it provided shelter to refugees.
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Today, the magnificent abbey houses part of the medical faculty at the University of Ulm and is open to the public as a tourist destination. Its rococo splendor is at once a testament to history and a celebration of opulence.
