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Classen Library

Library building in Copenhagen, Denmark

Field	Value
name	Classen Library
native_name	Det Classenske Bibliotek
image	Classenske Bibliotek.JPG
caption	The façade on Amaliegade =
map_caption	Location within Denmark
architectural_style	Neoclassical
location_country	Denmark
coordinates
completion_date	1802
architect	Peter Hersleb Classen/Andreas Kirkerup

The Classen Library () was a public library in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was created from the private book collection of Johan Frederik Classen, at the time of his death in 1792. It was the third largest library in the city, surpassed only by the Royal Danish Library and Copenhagen University Library and existed until 1867 when it was merged with the latter.

Its building at 38 Amaliegade now houses Det Konserveringsfaglige Videncenter, a centre for conservation. It was listed in 1918.

History

Site history

The site was formerly part of the vast Sophie Amalienborg garden. Rgus karge property was listed in Copenhagen's new cadastre of 1756 as No. 61 in St. Ann's East Quarter. The property known as Amaliegade 38 was later referred to as No. 71 B. It was marked as No. 1340 on Christian Gedde's 1756 map of St. Ann's East Quarter.

Classen

The library seen on a painting from the middle of the 19th century.

The successful industrialist and landowner Johan Frederik Classen was an enthusiastic bibliophile, buying books both at home and abroad, until he had a library. At the time of his death, he left his book collection to the public. It consisted of some 20,000 volumes. The library was to receive an annual sum of 3,000 rigsdaler from the Classenske Fideicommis, a charitable foundation which he set up in his will. Classen's brother, Peter Hersleb Classen, paid for the construction of a library building in Amaliegade, opposite Frederick's Hospital and not far from Amalienborg Palace. The library's collections grew to about 30,000 volumes in the middle of the 19th century.

The building of the then closed Classen Library photographed in about 1900

In 1867 the library was merged with Copenhagen University Library which changed its name to Københavns Universitetsbibliotek og det dermed forenede Classenske Bibliotek.

Architecture

The library was built to Peter Hersleb Classen's own design, presumably assisted by Andreas Kirkerup. The facade has rustication on the ground floor and a loggia with eight columns, showing influence from Ancient Roman architecture. The central library hall is two storeys high and surrounded by double galleries. It contains a bust of Classen.

Today

Today the building houses Konserveringsfagligt Videncenter (KViC), the library of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts' School of Conservation.

References

Københavns universitet. Universitetsbiblioteket. (1938). "Bird books and bird art: an outline of the literary history and iconography of descriptive ornithology : based principally on the collection of books ... in the University Library at Copenhagen ...". W. Junk.
Københavns universitet. Universitetsbiblioteket. (1938). "Kjøbenhavn. Illustreret Veiviser og Beskrivelse over Byen og Omegnen". Claudius Rosenhoff.
"Amaliegade 38". indenforvoldene.dk.
"KViC, Konserveringsfagligt Videncenter". ARKADE - Kunstbibliotekernes.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1792-establishments-in-denmark 1867-disestablishments buildings-and-structures-completed-in-1802 buildings-and-structures-of-the-classen-family libraries-established-in-1792 libraries-in-copenhagen listed-library-buildings-in-copenhagen

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