The Monacensia BuildingPhotograph: Coco Lang © Monacensia. Literaturarchiv und Bibliothek

The Monacensia is an archive, library, place of study, vibrant cultural location, exhibition space and repository. The literature archive currently comprises 300 literary estates and omnibus volumes of renowned writers with a close connection to Munich. These include Annette Kolb, Frank Wedekind, Oskar Panizza, Franziska zu Reventlow, Ludwig Thoma, Lena Christ, Oskar Maria Graf, Therese Giehse, Gisela Elsner, Herbert Achternbusch, Herbert Rosendorfer and many others. With the complete estates of Klaus and Erika Mann, more than 800 letters and manuscripts from Thomas Mann and many archival documents from Golo, Monika, Michael and Elisabeth Mann, the Monacensia is a research institute for the Mann family with a very high international standing. The collection focuses on: literature in Bavaria, Bohemia in Munich around 1900, exile literature, contemporary literature, and folk singers and folk artists in Munich. As the literary memory of the city of Munich, for decades the Monacensia has been collecting estates and documents of literary exile and making them available for academic assessment.

Since 2011, the academic development of the literary estates of the Monacensia has been a part of everyday university business. The Monacensia is a venue for regular doctoral colloquiums, guest lectures from external young academics and introductions for students of the Institute for German Philology and of book studies in the collections of the Monacensia. Research topics are proposed and presented that are suitable for corresponding theses.

With its monacensia-digital project, for the first time the Monacensia is making its archives available worldwide at no charge and to be used by everyone. As a pilot project, the complete estate of Monika Mann has been on the internet since October 2011. The diaries of Klaus Mann, which were closed until the mid-1990s, have been fully digitalised and can be viewed online since 2012.

The Monacensia includes a public research library with a unique collection of books on the topic of Munich. In a wide range of forms of literature mediation, such as temporary thematic exhibitions, guided tours, readings, lectures and seminars, the Monacensia presents its collections to the public.

Since 1977, the Monacensia has been located in the former artist’s villa of sculptor Adolf von Hildebrand (1848-1921). Hildebrand House is expected to be closed until autumn 2015 due to renovations. The departments of the Monacensia are located in temporary quarters.

Facts and figures

The collection in the literature archive comprises around 300 literary estates with 480,000 handwritten documents. The Munich Library contains around 150,000 books and media, 120 newspapers and magazines, an audiovisual media archive and comprehensive special collections on the topic of Munich and the Mann family.

Current projects

Upcoming exhibition: In Autumn 2014 Monacensia will launch the Jüdisches Leben am Tegernsee exhibition in the Jewish Museum Munich.  

Thomas Manns Zeit in München – a new permanent exhibition: After completion of renovation work on the Hildebrandhaus, the Monacensia library will reopen in Autumn 2015 with a permanent exhibition detailing Thomas Mann’s time in Munich - from his involvement in the city’s Bohemian community up until his exile. New temporary exhibition: Mon Oncle – lieber Klaus: Klaus und Heinrich Mann. To be launched in Autumn 2015 after completion of renovation work on the Hildebrandhaus.

Exhibitions (selection):

Lena Christ - Die Glückssucherin, 2012/13
Mein Kopf ist eine Bombe - Jörg Hube. Ein Künstlerleben, 2012
Literarische Sommerfrische. Schriftsteller und Künstler entdecken das Alpenvorland, 2011
Transit Amsterdam. Deutsche Künstler im Exil 1933 bis 1945, 2007
Die Kinder der Manns. Ansichten einer Familie. Eine Ausstellung der Monacensia, des Buddenbrookhauses Lübeck und des Literaturhauses München in Kooperation mit dem Rowohlt Verlag, dem Schweizerischen Literaturarchiv in Bern und dem Thomas-Mann-Archiv der ETH Zürich, 2006
Exil am Mittelmeer. Deutsche Schriftsteller in Südfrankreich, 2005
FremdwOrte. Schreiben und Leben – Exil in München, 2000
Ruhe gibt es nicht, bis zum Schluss. Klaus Mann 1906 – 1949, 1999
Land meiner Mörder, Land meiner Sprache. Die Schriftstellerin Grete Weil, 1998
Lieber keinen Kompass als einen falschen. Der Schriftsteller Max Mohr (1881 – 1937), 1997/98
Oskar Maria Graf. New York. 34 Hillside Avenue - Fundsachen aus der Wohnung eines Schriftstellers, 1997

Publications (selection):

Schmiedinger, Veit/Schoeller, Wilfried F.: Transit Amsterdam. Deutsche Künstler im Exil 1933-1945. edition monacensia (Hg. Monacensia): München: Allitera Verlag 2007
Voswinckel,Ulrike/Berninger, Frank: Exil am Mittelmeer. Deutsche Schriftsteller in Südfrankreich von 1933-1941. edition monacensia (Hg. Monacensia): München: Allitera Verlag 2005
Tworek, Elisabeth/ Piekenbrock, Marietta (Hg.): Dichter Hand Schrift. Mit Fotografien von Robert Brembeck und Thomas Dashuber. München: Blumenbar Verlag, 2004
Tworek, Elisabeth (Hg.): Literatur im Archiv. Bestände der Monacensia. Münchnen: Münchner Stadtbibliothek/Monacensia 2002
Tworek, Elisabeth (Hg.): Fremd(w)orte. Schreiben und Leben - Exil in München. MonAkzente (Hg. Monacensia). München: A1 Verlag 2000
Exner, Lisbeth: Land meiner Mörder, Land meiner Sprache. Die Schriftstellerin Grete Weil.  MonAkzente (Hg. Monacensia). München: A1 Verlag 1998
Reichert, Carl-Ludwig : Lieber keinen Kompaß, als einen falschen. Würzburg-Wolfsgrub-Shanghai
Der Schriftsteller Max Mohr. MonAkzente (Hg. Monacensia). München: A1 Verlag 1997