The Walter Benjamin Library

On February 16, 2023, the Walter Benjamin Library was inaugurated in the south nave of the building. It is the first step in the rehabilitation of the Walter Benjamin House. It was possible thanks to a contribution from the Ministry of Culture, from the Girona Provincial Council and from the Portbou City Council to provisionally host the international libraries inherited by the Foundation: Gian-Luigi Ponzano and Philippe Yvernel Library, which are updated by the Foundation every year with new acquisitions and with exchange with other institutions. The City Council's Benjamin book fund was incorporated. It also includes a bibliography on Dani Karavan, author of the Memorial Passages / To Walter Benjamin, Portbou.

Walter Benjamin Library 

Photography: Angelus Novus Foundation.

Contents, activities and visits

2024. The Library has received the donation of library books from Elisabeth Siefer, translator of the GDR writer Sarah Kirsch, and archival material from Adela Reichardt.

Catalog. 6,496 volumes have been cataloged and are housed in the BEG (Specialized Libraries of the Generalitat), thanks to an agreement between the Portbou City Council, the Girona Provincial Council and the Angelus Novus Foundation. It also has a large collection of international magazines.

Gian-Luigi Ponzano Library, Italian engineer and humanist. Specialized in the Spanish Civil War and the history of the Russian Revolution, Walter Benjamin and the Frankfurt School, German and French literature and art, as well as the history of the Jewish world.

Philippe Yvernel Library, French translator of the work of Walter Benjamin. Library specialized in Walter Benjamin, Frankfurt School, Bertolt Brecht and alternative theater, aesthetic philosophy and literature of the European context of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Archive. Includes letters, photos and archival documents from Gian-Luigi Ponzano and Adela Reichardt.

Features. Research and research -Residencies-Scholarships- Lectures-Contemporary Thinking - Seminars - Walter Benjamin Summer School - Work room - Reading space.

Activities 2024. In 2024 the Library has carried out 35 activities: book presentations, poetry recitals, conferences, art demonstrations, performances, and has hosted the IX Walter Benjamin Summer School on September 6, 7 and 8, with the attendance of 277 people.

Visits 2024. It has been visited by those attending the activities, by groups of high school students and groups of Germans and French, as well as the public from Catalonia and the Spanish state. The total number of visits has been 1,610 people, exceeding the 2023 visits of 1,371 people.

 

 

 

 

 

Walter Benjamin Library 

Photography: Angelus Novus Foundation.

Address and contact:

WALTER BENJAMIN LIBRARY. Avenida de Barcelona, 11, E-17497 Portbou.

Library hours. Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 5 to 7 p.m. and agreed times.

Tel: + 34 972 39 02 84, Ext. 41, during Library hours. Mobile: + 34. 660 827023 /

bibliotecawalterbenjamin@fundacióangelusnovus.org