In spring 1933, book burnings took place at more than 90 locations throughout Germany. The project “Verbrannte Orte” (“Burned Locations”) has set itself the goal of documenting these places, marking them on an online map and providing background information about the respective book burning. Interactive panoramas and large-format images show the modern face of these locations.

During Jewish Week, Jan Schenck, the initiator of “verbrannte-orte.de”, will be presenting the project at the German National Library in Leipzig.

Book directly using the booking form or call +49 341 2271-286
Admission free

The Louis Braille Festival is coming to Leipzig from 5 to 7 July 2019. Following the festivals in Hanover, Berlin and Marburg, it is now the turn of Saxony’s largest city. People with and without visual impairments work together with Leipzig’s institutions to shape the programme of a festival celebrating the concept of inclusiveness. Whether it’s concerts, theatre performances, or guided museum tours – the Louis Braille Festival offers a varied programme for participating and sharing experiences.

On request, the German Museum of Books and Writing at the German National Library is offering special guided tours of its permanent exhibition.

The German Museum of Books and Writing has put together a colourful summer holiday programme for crèche groups: the Museum invites them to get creative in a wide variety of workshops on “Printing from nature”, “Bookbinding step by step”, “Paper-folding techniques”, “Linocut” and “Calligraphy”.

Admission to all these events is free. Sessions for crèche groups can be arranged by calling 0341 2271-324.

Along with its creative summer programme, the Museum offers a wide variety of hands-on projects all year round. Families, school classes, senior citizens – the Hands-On Museum has something for everyone.

Lumos! We will be illuminating the permanent exhibition of the German Museum of Books and Writing on behalf of all Harry Potter fans and reading from the magical books. Bring your cape and magic wand along!

Prior booking is not required. Free admission.

For the third concert in our series “The invisible Pianist”, we will be introducing you to our treasury of piano rolls.

We are often fascinated by what we cannot see. A good example is the mechanical Steck "Duo-Art" reproducing grand piano built in 1925 which plays music without any visible performer. In this early form of mechanical sound recording, a pianist's performance was recorded on a paper roll which could then - when inserted into a suitable instrument - reproduce the music.

To mark the 7th Leipzig Days of Industrial Culture event, you can experience works for piano from a variety of epochs, including pieces by major pianists of the early 20th century, and some recorded by the composers themselves.

Free admission. Book directly using the booking form or call +49 341 2271-286

The German National Library’s annual report for 2018 has been published. The main topics are the German Exile Archive’s permanent exhibition, the first in its 70-year history, and the launch of the project “GND for Cultural Data”, aimed at expanding the Integrated Authority File (GND).

As always, it also contains a review of the technical and cultural highlights of the German National Library’s year along with its events and publications. Last but not least, we introduce you to the most notable acquisitions in our special collections. You will find all the important statistics at a glance in the section on “Facts & Figures”.

The annual report can also be downloaded as a free online publication.

The banning of newspapers and publishers is a threat to democracy's most valuable asset: the right to express opinions freely. Turkey, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Tanzania: hundreds of journalists were arrested all over the world just last year.

By presenting the 2019 Gutenberg Prize to the “Fonts for Freedom” initiative run by Reporters Without Borders, the book city of Leipzig is paying tribute to a highly topical project: “Fonts for Freedom” reconstructs the fonts of daily newspapers from all over the world that have been banned and closed down and then make these fonts available in the internet free of charge. To mark the presentation of the Gutenberg Prize of the City of Leipzig to “Reporters Without Borders” for their initiative “Fonts for Freedom”, the German Museum of Books and Writing at the German National Library will be dedicating a small exhibition to the prize winner. It will present poster campaigns marking Turkish president Recep Erdoğan’s visit to Berlin, banned newspapers, and film documentaries.

The exhibition will be open for viewing from 30 May to 21 December 2019.

Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday and public holidays 10:00–18:00, Thursday 10:00–20:00,
closed Monday

Free admission