Wienbibliothek im Rathaus, Research library in Rathaus, Vienna, Austria.
The Wienbibliothek im Rathaus is a research library on the first floor of Vienna City Hall, holding 500,000 books, 2,000 newspapers and magazines, 300,000 posters, 500,000 autographs, and one of the world's most important music collections. Its reading rooms serve researchers consulting these materials on site.
The library was re-established on 28 April 1856 by a resolution of Vienna's city council, under Mayor Johann Kaspar Freiherr von Seiller, as a legal reference collection for the municipal administration in the Altes Rathaus on Wipplingerstraße. In 1886 it moved to the first floor of the new City Hall, and in 1889 it was merged with the Historical Museum into the Städtische Sammlungen. In 1939 library and museum were separated again; the name Wienbibliothek im Rathaus dates from 2006.
The library preserves handwritten letters, manuscripts, and personal documents from writers, artists, and figures connected to Vienna's cultural life. Visitors can encounter original materials that show how the city's creative community developed over time.
The library is located in a historic building in the city center and is easily accessible by public transport. Note that materials can only be viewed on site and some special collections may require advance registration.
In 2001, 340 autograph music manuscripts by Franz Schubert and a nearly complete set of first editions of his works were inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World register. The core came from a gift by industrialist Nikolaus Dumba, and the library now calls its Schubert holdings the world's largest collection of Schubertiana.
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