Scientific Inventory of the Library in Ravensburg-Weissenau:

To the catalogue:

The rooms of the Scientific Library at the Research Unit for the History and Ethics of Medicine of the Centre for Psychiatry Südwürttemberg / Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy I of the University of Ulm at Ravensburg-Weissenau are located in the impressively beautiful premises of the former Premonstratensian Cloister Weissenau built in 1145.

After the secularisation in 1803, the premises of the former cloister “Augia minor” (it was the subject of an interim use for a while) have been involved in the planning of a medical facility since 1888. The asylum Weissenau („Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Weissenau“) near Ravensburg is the fourth psychiatric facility of the former Kingdom of Wurttemberg, which successor is the above mentioned present clinic. On the one hand, the scientific library is located in the library of the former cloister (the largest part of the former monastery library´s inventory belongs now to the stock of the Prague University Library). With all the differences, this fact represents an interesting continuity regarding the use of the space. On the other hand, there are other, very impressive premises in the former “recreation premises” of the Weissenau cloister. The baroque plasterwork by Francesco Marazzi on the one hand as well by Franz Schmuzer on the other, which still decorate the present library premises, is of breath-taking beauty.

While the premises of the larger and more famous “sister institutions” of the Weissenau library are decorated with allegories of sciences (Wiblingen near Ulm), busts of “prominent men” (Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar) or illustrious students, donors and scientists (Wren Library at Trinity College, Cambridge), the Weissenau premises are stocked with modern and much more modest- looking stone sculptures. These art pieces are products of therapeutic processes as part of the treatment of mentally ill people, former patients of the Weissenau Psychiatric Clinic.