Bavarian archives

Find a Catholic German parish

Go to: https://rz.bistum-mainz.de/pfarreifinder/Pfarreienverzeichnis.aspx 

1. To find what parish a church now belongs to, type the name of the town into the search bar and select the suggestion that appears. 

2. Click "Anfrage Senden"

Also try searching at this link: https://wiki.genealogy.net/Bistum_Regensburg/Orte  

And check out this book: Pfarrbücherverzeichnis des Bistums Regensburg at https://bistum-regensburg.de/fileadmin/Dateien/pdf/Bestandsuebersicht_Kunst-Kultur-Doezesanarchiv-Pfarrbuecherverzeichnis_2015.pdf 

Munich area church books 

Including Landshut: https://digitales-archiv.erzbistum-muenchen.de/actaproweb/altview.jsf?id=48

Matricula  

The Matricula website has Catholic Diocese church books online for several countries such as Germany, Austria, Poland, Serbia, Luxemburg, Bosnia & Herzogovina, Slovenia, and Italy.

Dioceses in Germany include Aachen, Augsburg, Bamberg, Berlin, Dresden-Meissen, Eichstätt, Fulda, Hildesheim, Limburg, Magdeburg, München & Freising includes Landshut, Münster, Osnabrück, Paderborn, Passau, Rheinland, Vechta. The links to München & Freising books take you to digitales-archive.erzbistum-muenchen website. Regensburg Diocese church books were scanned and uploaded beginning in 2021; Waldmünchen appeared online on March 28, 2024. 

Click the camera icon to open a book. You can filter collections in the "Register type" and "Date" column. 

• Click "Deutschland" at this link: https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/bestande/ 

• Click the Diocese name, then the town name to see church records.    

• Diocese names in Germany: https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/deutschland/ 

Bischöfliches Zentralarchiv Regensburg 

https://bistum-regensburg.de/dienst-hilfe/familienforschung 

If searching for records online in the comfort of your home isn't appealing (described above in the "Matricula" section), then read further to find out how to search for records on microfiche at the archives. 

(Central Archives of the Diocese of Regensburg)

Email: archiv@bistum-regensburg.de

The archive is open to researchers from Monday to Thursday. Make reservations by phone well in advance. 

Hours: Mon-Wed 9 to noon; 1 to 5 pm. Thurs 9 am to 6 pm (CHECK WEBSITE FOR UPDATED HOURS!)

This archive has Catholic church records for baptisms (Geburt / Taufe), marriages (Trauung), and burials (Beerdigung) of parishes in the Diocese of Regensburg and includes most of the Oberpfalz. Some books may also have Confirmation lists and other church records. 

The archive has a library with printed books such as "Matrikel des Bistums Regensburg" printed in various years. Find your ancestor village to learn the number of "Seelen" (souls / Catholic residents), number of houses, and distance in kilometers to the main parish village. These books can give you an idea of the size of your ancestor's village. 

Before arriving at the archive

• Call the archive to reserve a microfiche reader and let them know how many days you want to research.

• Order microfiche for a specific parish. You'll need to know in which parish your ancestor belonged. 

  • Just knowing they were from Bavaria is not enough information. See this list of parishes in Diocese of Regensburg and years available:
    https://bistum-regensburg.de/fileadmin/Dateien/pdf/Bestandsuebersicht_Kunst-Kultur-Doezesanarchiv-Pfarrbuecherverzeichnis_2015.pdf
    Catholic church records from eastern areas that formerly belonged to the German Empire:  
    https://bistum-regensburg.de/fileadmin/Dateien/pdf/Bestandsuebersicht_02_Ostkirchenbuecherverzeichnis.pdf 

  • Click any letter in the "Inhaltsverzeichnis" (Table of Contents): http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Bistum_Regensburg/Orte  

• There is a daily fee for each person: 7€ per day (as of 2019). 

• If you plan to research from Mon-Thurs, ask for a discounted fee of 20€ for four days. 

• With the daily/weekly fee, you can look at two parish "books" on microfiche per day, but only one box of fiche at a time is allowed on your table. If you want to look at more than two parishes per day, there is an extra fee. If you are with another person and both pay a daily/weekly fee, you will each be allowed to have 2 parishes per day. 

• If you are researching with another person, ask to reserve one of their small private rooms with a door so that you may work together at one microfiche machine. 

• You may be asked if you can read old German and Latin handwriting. Be aware that there is no one at the archive to help read for you. 

Upon arrival in Regensburg

• Find a place to park

  • The archive has a very limited number of parking spaces in front of their building, so arrive early.

  • Lower priced parking is available in an underground lot at a large shopping mall which is located behind the main train station (Hofbahnhof). Park and walk north a few blocks to the archive in about 10 minutes. 

    • To find the shopping mall parking lot, drive south on Martin Luther Strasse which turns into Galgenbrücke, go over the bridge across the train tracks and look for parking signs. 

  • A more expensive above-ground parking ramp is directly east of the archive. 

• At the archive

  • Enter the archive by stairs or elevator.

  • Check in at the front desk and let them know you have an appointment to do research. Ask for a locker key (return the key at the end of the day). 

  • Lockers are available for storing your coat, bag lunch and drinks, phone, etc. You may need to place a 1€ coin into a slot on the locker then lock the door with the key. 

  • In the archive office, you will need to show a form of identification (such as passport) and fill out a form with your name, address, and other info. 

    • At this office, you will pay the parking fee (ca 5€) if you parked in the archive parking lot. 

  • Enter the reading room of the archive

    • Take only what you need for researching, such as a laptop computer and plugs, note paper and pencils. 

    • Check in with the archivist on duty and give them your name

    • The archivist will give you a wooden card file box filled with microfiche for the parish which you pre-ordered by phone

      • If you ordered records for more than one parish, finish researching the first parish before asking to have the second parish. Only one parish of records is allowed on your table at one time.

      • If you want to see records for a third parish, it will cost extra if you already looked at two parishes in the same day.

      • If you did not pre-order a parish, there is a chance a different researcher has the parish and so it will not be available to you.

    • If you are not sure which parish would have records you need, go to the front desk of the reading room and look in the large book that lists parishes and the villages that belong to that parish. 

    • Talking is not allowed in the reading room except at the front desk when speaking to the archivist. Whispering to someone else in the reading room is discouraged.

    • Yelling "Bingo!" might get glares or smiles from other researchers, depending on their moods.

    • If you are alone, you will be seated at a small table which has a microfiche reader. Look for laptop outlets on the floor or around the table.

    • If you are seated in a small private room with another person, speak to each other very quietly (whisper) since the walls are very thin. Save longer conversations for the locker room. 

    • When you are finished researching, return the microfiche box to the archivist.

    • Be sure to pack up, visit the toilet, empty your locker, return the key, and leave the archive well before closing time to avoid being reprimanded! Doors are locked promptly at closing time! 

  • Copies can be ordered from church records. The charge for photocopies is 6€ per record according to their website. 

    • As of 2018, there was a 6 month waiting time for receiving copies in the mail! In Sept 2018, the archive sent scans on a CD for only 3€ per record. 

    • Update as of Sept. 2018: Previously forbidden, the archive began allowing the use of a camera to take pictures of microfilm for free! 

  • Lunch: The archive closes one hour for a lunch break from noon to 1 pm (Mon-Wed). You will need to leave the archive during that time, so leave promptly! 

    • Take your bag lunch outside to eat and stretch your legs. 

    • Eat on a park bench: Leave the archive and turn left (east), follow St. Peters-Weg south, then turn south on a straight walkway into a city park (direction of the train station). Further into the park you may find a food stall shaped like a mushroom! 

    • Find fast-food restaurants / Imbiss places can be found in the blocks behind the archive: Leave the archive and turn left (east) and walk north on Fröhliche Türken Strasse. 

    • There are many places to eat lunch in the shopping mall described above (by the train station).

    • Eat delicious German food at Gaststätte Gravenreuther, a 7-minute walk. Ordering and eating may need more than one hour. Leave the archive and turn right (west) and walk a few steps to "An der Hülling" (looks like an alley), past the Diözesanmuseum, follow Obere Bachgasse north; turn left on Gesandtenstraße; turn right on Rote Hahnen Gasse; turn right; in a couple of steps on Hinter der Grieb street is the restaurant (house #10). 

Research tips

• Microfiche are stored in "jackets" and are arranged numerically inside the wooden card file boxes. Do not mix them up. 

• Typed on the top of the fiche is information to help you find records more easily, such as the subject (baptism, marriage, death), years, fiche number

• Turn on the microfiche reader.

• Remove the fiche jacket and place the fiche upside down into the microfiche reader between the glass. 

• Move the glass back and forth until you find an image, using the focus button as needed.

• When you find a record that you want to copy, document exactly where it was found: Pfarrei (parish) name, Band (volume) number, Seite (page number), Mikrofiche (microfiche number), Datum des Eintrages (date of entry). Ask the archivist for an order form and fill in all the required information. Also make a note of this information for your own records! 

• If you cannot read the script (German and/or Latin), you may be able to decipher last names. Sometimes last names are underlined. Be aware that it's easy to confuse occupations with last names since many last names are similar to occupations such as the last name Bauer which also means Bauer (farmer). More examples: Weber (weaver), Wagner (wagon maker), Schneider (tailor). 

• Each priest wrote in his own style of handwriting, so trying to use a "Suetterlin" or "Fraktur" guide may not be helpful. 

• In old records, you may find the priest used old spelling of words and an old ways of phrasing sentences. You may need help from a Bavarian researcher to transcribe the records later. 

• If a record was written in columns, either make detailed notes of the column headers, or take a picture (if allowed), or order a copy of the header page(s). Without the headers, you won't be able to figure out what the info in each column means. 

• Make a note of the year of the record. Sometimes the year appears several pages before your ancestor's record. 

• The three main types of records (Baptism, Marriage, Death/Burial) may not always appear in a nice consecutive order in the book images. If you don't find a specific date, check other fiche in the box. 

• Newer records are not allowed to be seen due to "Datenschutz" (data protection) laws in Germany. Following are records you will not be able to see when researching in 2019: Baptisms earlier than 120 years (1899 at the latest). Marriages earlier than 100 years (1919 at the latest). Deaths earlier than 40 years (1979 at the latest). The archive calculates these years according to the last entry in the book. This means that if the last baptism took place in 1930, you won't be able to see other records in that book even though the others fall into the allowed timeframe. For records that aren't on microfiche, you might ask at the local parish, but they possibly won't allow you to see those records and may suggest you go to the "Standesamt" of your ancestor village to see civil records. 

See Wiki at https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Regensburg,_Bavaria,_Germany_Genealogy

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Staatsarchiv (State Archive) in Bavaria

This type of archive has Kataster books to show land purchases and exchanges, Brief Protokolle books regarding permission to marry, permission to emigrate, court and police records, last wills, illegitimate children and their powers of attorney, and much more. 

The main archive (Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv) is in Munich (see below for more info). Eight state archives are in Amberg, Augsburg, Bamberg, Coburg, Landshut, München/Munich, Nürnberg/Nuremberg, and Würzburg. See the online Findmittel (Finding Aids) for these archives: https://www.gda.bayern.de/service/findmitteldatenbank/

For the Oberpfalz (towns such as Waldmuenchen, Irlach, Tiefenbach, Treffelstein), research can be done at this archive:

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Staatsarchiv Amberg

Website showing contact info and hours they are open: http://www.gda.bayern.de/amberg/  Check for the latest Covid 19 rules such as face mask requirements and proof of immunization. 

Call or email about 1 week prior to make a reservation to do research. Order books and documents at least 24 hours prior to your visit. New rules as of Oct. 11, 2021: You may no longer order a book to be viewed on the same day; it will take 24 hours to receive a book if it is stored at the archive. Books stored off site need at least 1 week to receive them. 

To find the archive, turn on Weissenburger Strasse by St. Georg church. Archivstrasse (Archive Street) is behind a school. Free parking is available in a small parking lot near the public entrance. If the lot is full, find parking along any side street, paying attention to any parking rules. 

Find records you need at the Findmittel (finding aids) page: https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Archiv/2/

Or look on the website for Online-Findmittel und Online-Digitalisate and Online-Findmitteln des Staatsarchivs Amberg
Type a simple search term into the "Standard-Suche:" box then click the Suche button. Results, if any, will appear below. At Amberg, only 1 result appeared for Grundsteuer, but more results appeared for Kataster. Searching for town names will narrow it down. 

How to search Findmittel: https://www.gda.bayern.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Medien_fuer_Unterseiten/2021_Einfuehrung_Onlinerecherche_09-09-2021.pdf 

Tips for researchers at Staatsarchiv Amberg
https://www.gda.bayern.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Medien_fuer_Unterseiten/Hausordnung_StAAM.pdf 

https://www.gda.bayern.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Medien_fuer_Unterseiten/Lesesaalordnung_StAAm.pdf 

1. Ring the entrance bell and someone will buzz you in. The person behind the entrance desk may ask if you need help. Let them know you wish to do research.

2. You may need to show some type of ID at some point (such as a passport). 

3. Find the rows of lockers to store your belongings (sandwiches, drinks, snacks, jackets, camera, cell phone, purse, backpack, etc). Put a 1€ coin inside the slot then lock the door with the key. You can get the coin back when inserting the key into the locker when you next open the locker door. Don't forget to remove the coin at the end of the day. It is normally not allowed to wear a jacket in the reading room and Amtsbücherei room. Due to Covid 19, rooms will be aired out 5-10 minutes per hour (even in cold weather). Wearing a jacket or coat inside the reading room is not allowed (2021); wear warm clothes!

4. Eating and drinking are only permitted in the area of the existing seating groups in the foyer and in the atrium. Food and beverages may not be taken into the reading room or the repertory room.

5. The first research step (in 2021, this needs to be done 24 hour prior to your visit) is to find what you need by looking at the Finding Aids online (see links above)! 

6. If you are in the archive and need extra help and can't find what you need online, ask the person on duty in the Lesesaal to make an appointment in the Amtsbücherei (aka "Repertorium") office which is in room 103 near the lockers. The hours of this room is from 8-11:30 and 1-3:30. In that room, it is possible to talk aloud and ask the person on duty (Frau and Herr Roetzer) to help find what indexes you might need. 

7. In the Lesesaal (reading room), you will be given one book at a time. When finished, put a note on the book to indicate whether you would like to see the book again on your visit, or if it's OK for them to put it away. 

8. Take only a laptop (outlets are available), pencils, pencil sharpener, note paper, and very little else. 

9. Digital images from camera is allowed (2021). In 2018, the reading room was testing a self-service copy machine that scanned to a USB stick. If the machine is not available, you can order copies which will be sent to you later, either paper copies or a CD with digital scans. 

10. Read a long page of rules, such as no talking to your neighbors, no pens, no eating or drinking. 

11. If you leave your chair longer than 1 hour, the office reserves the right to give your chair to another researcher. 

12. When you leave the reading room, the person behind the desk will ask to see ALL of your papers in your hand, including looking under the cover of your laptop computer. 

13. Make note of closing times so you are packed up and ready to leave before the archive closes.

IMPORTANT NOTES: 

On land records for villages in the Oberpfalz, you might see a reference to a court document called "Brief Protokolle" (literally, "letter protocol"). These letters include requests to marry, marriage licenses, details about land purchases and transfers, guardianship records (Vormund), and wills. Staatsarchiv Amberg has these Brief Protokolle books in their storage areas. You can ask to see them. These "letters" can be very interesting to your family research. These records often give a good description of the farm and home life, types of animals and farm tools owned, description of land, household inventories, and more. 

On land records for villages in the Oberpfalz, you might see a reference to a court document called "Notariats Urkunden" (can be abbreviated as Not.-Uk or UK). Staatsarchiv Amberg does not have Notariats Urkunden records. These Notariats Urkunden can be found at a "warehouse" in Lichtenau (more about the Lichtenau archive is below). 

Some records from Staatsarchiv Amberg are at FamilySearch

Civil records of marriage banns, marriage supplements, and permissions to change residence (Heiratsbelege; Ansässigmachungs- und Verehelichungsakten; Heimatakten) are free to view online. FamilySearch filmed these collections to microfilm at Staatsarchiv Amberg in the 1990s; it took them a couple of years to complete. In the late 2000s, the records were put online. Images are not index, so you will need to forward through every image to find a name you are interested in. If you are lucky, you will find several interesting documents for your ancestor. At the time they were filmed, the person filming would finish one book then pick up another book and continue filming until the microfilm reel was empty. When the photographer changed film, he/she continued the book to the next microfilm. So therefore, when you are reading through the filmed images, you can see books from other towns at the beginning of the reel but the online summary of that reel does not mention the other town is on that same reel. Records for one person can span many pages; one example had 46 images. It is often difficult to determine where one person's record begins in the microfilm. 

The Ansässigmachung und Verehelichungsakten 1803-1862 for Waldmuenchen are on 24 microfilms. The originals are stored in boxes at Staatsarchiv Amberg, sorted alphabetically. This group of records do not appear in the Repertorienzimmer inventory books because they do not have an index, nor do they have an order number. To see a record from this collection, ask the person on duty in the reading room (such as Herr Dirschwigl) and ask for the letter of the alphabet for the last name of interest. 

How to search for records at home

1. Sign into https://www.familysearch.org/

2. Click Search > Catalog

3. Type a town name into the Keywords box

   1. Searching for Waldmünchen or Waldmunchen gives these results: https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/results?count=20&query=%2Bkeywords%3Awaldm%C3%BCnchen

   2. Waldmünchen Ansässigmachungs- und Verehelichungsakten, 1803-1862 (Residence and Marriage documents dated 1803 to 1862) https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/672539?availability=Family%20History%20Library

   3. Oberviechtach search results: https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/results?count=20&query=%2Bkeywords%3Aoberviechtach
      FamilySearch Catalog: Ansässigmachungs- und Verehelichungsakten, 1800-1862 — FamilySearch.org  

   4. Ansässigmachungs- und Verehelichungsakten for various German towns: Catalog Search Results 

Under the "Film/Digital Notes" column, scroll down the page and look for the letter of the last name of your ancestor. For instance, if you are searching for a last name beginning with F, there are two films (#2060694 and #2060695) for Waldmünchen. 

Click the camera icon to see the images.

For emigration documents, look for records with "Vermögens und Leumundszeugniss" (Property and Character References). 

Another way to search for archive records at FamilySearch

1. Click "Search" then click "Images"

2. Type in a town name and wait until a suggestion pops up, then select it. For example, type in Ränkam

3. Two suggestions appear

4. Select the first suggestion (Ränkam, Furth im Wald, Cham, Bavaria, Germany)

5. Click "Search Image Groups"

6. The first suggestion shows a link to images: https://www.familysearch.org/records/images/search-results?place=9821343&page=1

7. The second suggestion (Rankam, Bogen, Straubing-Bogen, Bavaria, Germany) shows that there are no images. 

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Staatsarchiv Nürnberg Aussenstelle Lichtenau

Lichtenau is located in Ansbach county, Bavaria, Germany (southwest of Nürnberg). 

The "Aussenstelle Lichtenau" warehouse (branch office / depository) archive is located inside the castle that was once used as a prison. Among the records being stored are Notariats Urkunden (notary deeds) beginning in the year 1862 for the following Bavarian regions:

• Oberpfalz: including county seats of Waldmuenchen (records from 1862 to the 1950s) and Oberviechtach (records from 1862 to 1899)

• Middle Franken

• Niederbayern: parts of Niederbayern including Kelheim and Straubing

Notariats Urkunden court records were originally stored at the courthouses in those county seat villages. Lichtenau received the Oberviechtach records around 2010, but had Waldmuenchen records for a longer time. For more recent, newer, Notariat Urkunden records, you'll need to check with the courthouses in those towns, but you will not likely be able to see them due to "datenschutz" (data protection) laws. Since Waldmuenchen county seat changed to Cham in the 1970s, you should check in both Waldmuenchen and in Cham. 

Lawyers began writing Notariats Urkunden in 1862; prior to this, such records were called "Brief Protocolle" - these Brief Protocolle records for the Oberpfalz are stored at the Staatsarchiv Amberg (see above Amberg section).

Notariats Urkunden records can consist of one to several pages and include official stamps, seals with colorful string, and signatures of your ancestors. They are similar to the Brief Protokolle records and include inventories, purchase agreements, wills, marriage contracts, etc. More info at this GenWiki. 

Tips for researching at Lichtenau

1. Call or email the archive to make an appointment as they have limited space for researchers 

   1. There is no charge to research on your own

   2. You will need to know how to read old German handwriting

   3. The archivists at Lichtenau can look for records for you, but only a limited number of records. 

2. The archivist will need to know the Notariat Urkunde date and any reference numbers that you found on land records at Amberg. 

   1. It's best to let the archivist know this information before your arrival; however, you can also order books when you are at Lichtenau. 

3. At the archive is free parking along the castle wall, across from the Lutheran church.

4. Enter the archive; you may need to ring the bell if the door is locked.

5. Fill out a registration form; you may need to show ID

6. Put your belongings in a locker

7. Begin researching by looking at indexes; some are alphabetical, some are sorted only by date. In the index, look for a reference number. 

   1. The Waldmuenchen Notariatsregister for 1864 is typed and sorted by date. This is the only index that is typed; the original index was lost or destroyed in 1945 and was later recreated. 

8. Give the reference number to the archivist; he will pull the original record out of a storage box and let you read it

9. You can order copies for .60 per page. The copies can be printed or scanned to a CD and mailed to you. 

   1. There may be a possibility to have the copies made on the day of your visit, at a higher cost. 

Staatsarchiv Nürnberg Aussenstelle Lichtenau

https://www.gda.bayern.de/nuernberg

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Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv in Munich (Bavarian State Archives in Munich)

Schönfeldstrasse 5-11. http://www.gda.bayern.de/hauptstaatsarchiv/

Finding parking can be difficult when the parking lot in front of the entrance door is closed or not available. A suggestion is to park somewhere more cheaply outside the city and take an underground train to the archive. 

 Upon entering the building, register at the Info desk. 

Go to a hallway behind this desk to find a locker to store your belongings. 

In the hallway outside the Repertorienzimmer of Abeilung I, are three long filing cabinets with index cards (you need to ask for a key to open the drawers). There were three categories of index cards - town name, subject, last names. 

• In the towns section are Waldmuenchen cards. The info on the cards referred to hospital and church records such as taxes (not vital statistic records), and other items. There was nothing for the town Irlach in the "I" drawer. 

• In the subjects section, you can find subjects such as potatoes and cheese. 

• In the last name section, you might get lucky. Some names pertaining to Plain, Wisconsin, area ancestors that did not have a card were Sebastian Bauer of Untergrafenried and Paulus or Christoph Kraemer of Irlach/Tiefenbach. Getting lucky, names of our ancestors such as Kornegger and Ringelstetter had index cards for men who were working as border guard patrol agents. Andreas Schmidhuber's border guard records (around 100 pages) are also at this archive (Zollakten 6580); he was the father of Franziska Bauer's 3 children. 

• When you find something of interest on the cards, you need to order the original documents. Receiving the document can take 2-3 days because they need to be located in storage. When the documents are found, you have one week to read them in the reading room, which means taking another trip to the archive.

In the bottom drawers of the cabinets were many small books with handwritten notes. The notes were written many years ago from documents from the 1500s and earlier. These may have been "Monumenta Boica" books. English explanation: https://www.haraldfischerverlag.de/hfv/einzelwerke/monumenta_boica_engl.php

The archive in Munich would not have "Rescript" ("Reskript") or court records. As explained by a worker in the reading room, courts didn't save all documents forever; in many cases, they were thrown out after several years. Of the documents that were saved, many were burned in World War II by bombs. However, documents from the 1500s or so, which had been previously moved out to castles before the bombs, would still exist. Before the WW II, church books and other important books were filmed. 

The archive has a typed index book, "Älteres materielles u. prozessuales Zivilrecht" - a book listing court cases. The dates in the book were from the mid to late 1800s. 

Example of a book number: Rep. M Ju 5/3 (Bayerisches Staatsministerium der Justiz, Rep M Ju 5 Band III). 

Rescript records may possibly be found at the Staatsarchiv Amberg, "if" they still have it. Reinhard Riepl's dictionary defined Reskript as a decree of the authorities or the sovereign (lord); a written notification or answer). 

There is a Lesesaal (reading room) and library for old books on the second floor.