Type | Building, Library |
Construction Year | 1715 |
Tickets | Admission to the Alba Carolina Citadel is free |
Visiting Hours | Not open to public |
Location | Alba Carolina, Alba Iulia, Romania, Europe |
Codex Aureus
Batthyaneum Library is famous because it holds a part of the most famous medieval manuscript, the Evangelist of Lorsch, known as the Codex Aureus. This gospel was written in gold letters on fine sheets of parchment, painted in gold, and has ivory covers. The manuscript was made between 778 and 820, during the time of Carol the Great.
The library houses over 635,000 copies of books, of which 1,665 manuscripts, over 600 incunabula and about 60,000 prints published in the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, to which are added more than 10,000 documents, all written in 30 languages and dialects from ancient times to the present day.
The church of the monastic order of Trinitarians
The Batthyaneum Library was a church in the beginning (The church of the monastic order of Trinitarians).
The basement of the church was intended for tombs, the crypt being divided into square or rectangular rooms.
Astronomical observatory
The astronomical observatory set up by Bishop Batthyani was the most modern observatory of the time operating in Transylvania.
