Library of Kloster Ottobeuren, Monastic library at Ottobeuren Abbey, Germany

The Library of Kloster Ottobeuren occupies a grand hall adorned with painted ceilings and ornate Baroque decorations from the 18th century. Inside are theological manuscripts, classical texts, and scholarly works collected over generations by the monastic community.

The library's origins lie in the monastery's foundation around 764, though a scriptorium is only documented from the 12th century. In 1802 the abbey was dissolved during secularisation and the library hall sealed; in 1829 part of the holdings was moved on two carts to Augsburg. King Ludwig I decreed on 25 November 1842 that the library remain intact at Ottobeuren. In 1844 remnants of Franciscan, Kreuzherren and Augustinian libraries arrived.

The library hall was a film location for scenes of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1974 film Martha. Since 1844 it has held remnants of the Franciscan library of Lenzfried near Kempten and of the libraries of the Kreuzherren and Augustinian hermits in Memmingen. The abbey also keeps the archive, vestments, liturgical vessels and painting collection of the former Carthusian monastery of Buxheim, acquired in 1925.

The library hall is closed while the Free State of Bavaria restores it, so it cannot be visited at present. Access for scholarly use requires written registration and permission; the collection is a reference library only. The abbey museum, open from Palm Sunday to All Saints' Day, no longer includes the hall.

Many manuscripts here were created by monks who lived and worked in the abbey, featuring hand-painted illustrations that reveal patient craftsmanship. Seeing these individually decorated works creates a direct link to the people who made them.