Gotha Numismatica to be digitised

The research library preserves an important numismatic collection of historical prints and manuscripts. It is an expression of the collecting interests of the dukes of Gotha and learned numismatists, who were responsible for expanding the numismatic collections at the Gotha court from the end of the 17th century. Among their 225 numismatic manuscripts are famous works such as the Magnum Ac Novum Opus, which Jacopo Strada produced in the mid-16th century, first for Johann Jakob Fugger of Augsburg and then for Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria, in 30 volumes and with over 9,000 drawings. Individual registers and handwritten inventories of the coin collection are also repeatedly consulted by researchers.

In the project now being funded by the State Chancellery under the direction of Dr Monika Müller, 117 manuscripts are being digitised and around 50,000 images put online. The results will be presented in the library's digital collections (DHB) as well as in other national and international portals. The project thus supports research into numismatics as a leading discipline of early modern scholarship and the history of the coin collection at the court of the Ernestine dukes in Gotha.

Illustration: Strada, Jacobus; MAGNUM AC NOVUM OPUS Continens descriptionem vitae, imaginum, numismatum omnium tam orientalium quam occidentalium imperatorum ac tyrannorum, cum collegis, coniugibus, liberisque suis, usque ad Carolum V. Imperatorem. Date of origin: 1550–1571