Newest Addition to the World’s Oldest Library, Verona, May 2025

The oldest continuous library in the world receives its newest edition!

On behalf of the German Australian Business Council e.V. Australian Business Council, Co-Chair, Sabine Pittrof, has this weekend donated a book from member Dr. Christoph Hein “Australia 1872” to the world’s oldest continuous library, the Fondazione Biblioteca Capitolare di Verona (FBC) in Verona, Italy. The FBC is over 1500 years old and houses an extraordinary collection of manuscripts and treasures important to the history of humanity. It is also home to two priceless, antique globes crafted by Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr (1677- 1750), a German astronomer, cartographer, physicist and mathematician. The globes are dated 1728, 50 years before Captain Cook embarked on his voyage. They offer an insightful view of how European astronomers and scientists perceived Terra Australis during this period of history.

Hein’s “Australia 1872” is a fitting inclusion, further diversifying the library’s collection to include this German Australian story of history, politics and photography.

Thanks to members, Tonya Stevens and Nina Fiorenza for co-ordinating this special handover with the President of FBC and Canon of Verona Cathedral, Monsignor Bruno Fasani.

The handover was also attended by Business Council board members Jessica Walker, Francesca Ubaldi and special guest, Hon Michelle Roberts MLA.