The Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel (HAB) is one of the world’s leading independent research institutions for European cultural history. It combines outstanding historical collections with a vibrant international research environment, offering scholars from around the globe excellent conditions for interdisciplinary exchange and research.
The HAB’s research profile focuses particularly on the cultural history of the Middle Ages and the early modern period. Its activities are grounded in unique historical holdings that form one of Europe’s most significant research libraries. The core of the collection originates from the library of August the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, whose seventeenth-century book collection became the foundation of the Wolfenbüttel research library and continues to shape its profile today. The library preserves approximately 12,000 manuscripts and more than 400,000 printed works dating from 1450 to 1830, including important incunabula and early modern prints. These collections support a wide range of research, cataloguing, and editorial projects.
International fellowship programmes enable extended research stays, while conferences, lectures, and collaborative initiatives foster scholarly dialogue across disciplines. A distinctive feature of the HAB is the integration of established hermeneutic approaches in the humanities with innovative methods from the digital humanities, expanding both access to and analytical possibilities for its collections.
