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It was not only emperors, kings, and princes who wanted to establish libraries, but traditionally ecclesiastical orders such as the Benedictines or Cistercians as well. In the mid-eighteenth century, a library was built for the Benedictine monastery at Wiblingen near Ulm, probably by Christian Wiedermann (1680-1739), in the north wing of the abbey. It contains an elegant curving gallery supported on thirty-two red and green marbled wooden columns. In balanced colour contrast to these are white-painted wooden figures standing on low pedestals, allegories of the virtues and sciences. The ceiling, painted in 1744 by Franz Martin Kuen (1719-1771), unfolds the theme of this unique Baroque room in an effective motif-led structure.
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