Historic German Library Damaged by Fire

Thursday night a fire broke out at the Anna Amalia library in Weimar, in eastern Germany. Although fire fighters were able to bring the blaze under control after about two hours and no injuries were reported, the blaze destroyed part of the 16th-century rococo-style building's roof and its top floor. According to the first estimates, about 30,000 books have been damaged and 5,000 destroyed beyond repair. The entire Luther bible collection has been damaged, except for one edition dating from 1534. The cause of the fire is yet to be investigated. The library, built in 1691, holds around one million books, including many rare first-editions. The library also housed the largest collection of "Faust" by Germany's most revered writer, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, who lived in Weimar for a large part of his life. The library specializes in German literature between 1750 and 1850.