Famous Günzburg Collection of Jewish works makes digital aliyah

The national libraries of Israel and Russia were expected to sign an agreement of cooperation Tuesday to digitize the Günzburg Collection, among the most renowned collections of Jewish literary works worldwide. The works, collected by three generations of the Jewish-Russian Günzburg family, comprise one of the most valuable collections of its kind.

The Günzburg Collection is of historic importance and comprises tens of thousands of printed books, manuscripts and incunables (works printed, not handwritten, prior to the year 1501 in Europe). It also includes thousands of works from the medieval period covering a wide range of subject matter, including biblical texts and commentaries, works on Halachah and the Talmud, prayer books and kabbalah, volumes of Jewish and Aristotelian philosophy, as well as texts on astronomy, medicine and magic.

A generous donation from the Moscow-based Peri Foundation facilitated the cooperation between the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem and National Library of Russia in Moscow, which is unprecedented in its scope. The collection of works will be scanned and digitized and will be made accessible to the general public via the National Library of Israel's new and comprehensive digital platform, Ktiv. The platform already includes tens of thousands of rare centuries-old manuscripts and nearly 5 million images.

"The digitized Günzburg books and manuscripts will join other Hebrew manuscripts on Ktiv … one of the largest digital collections of manuscripts in existence," said NLI Director Oren Weinberg.

Lord Jacob Rothschild, among the NLI's patrons, said: "For many decades now, the National Library has lived in hope for access to the great Günzburg Collection in Russia. Thanks to the imaginative generosity of the Peri Foundation, and with the support of the Russian State Library, this will at last happen."

Yori Yalon