German culture minister says collapsed Cologne archive will get aid
The German government said it will help Cologne to recover and restore documents damaged when the building housing the municipal archives collapsed on March 3.
Emergency services are seeking two people still missing after the collapse, which may have been caused by building work on the city’s subway. Treasures in the archives included medieval housing records and certificates, and manuscripts from writers including Heinrich Boell and composers such as Jacques Offenbach, German press agency DPA reported.
“Our first concern is for the human lives,” Culture Minister Bernd Neumann said today in an e-mailed statement. “The collapse is also a cultural tragedy of national importance. If it is possible to rescue some of the items, then of course the scholarship and skills of institutes financed by the government will be put into service to limit the damage.”
The Cologne City Archive was the biggest municipal archive north of the Alps, with 26 kilometers of shelves full of files, its Web site says. It includes the collections and bequests of 780 artists, writers and composers and 500,000 photos of Cologne events. A “considerable” part of the collection had been microfilmed and digitalized, Neumann said.
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Emergency services are seeking two people still missing after the collapse, which may have been caused by building work on the city’s subway. Treasures in the archives included medieval housing records and certificates, and manuscripts from writers including Heinrich Boell and composers such as Jacques Offenbach, German press agency DPA reported.
“Our first concern is for the human lives,” Culture Minister Bernd Neumann said today in an e-mailed statement. “The collapse is also a cultural tragedy of national importance. If it is possible to rescue some of the items, then of course the scholarship and skills of institutes financed by the government will be put into service to limit the damage.”
The Cologne City Archive was the biggest municipal archive north of the Alps, with 26 kilometers of shelves full of files, its Web site says. It includes the collections and bequests of 780 artists, writers and composers and 500,000 photos of Cologne events. A “considerable” part of the collection had been microfilmed and digitalized, Neumann said.