Dutchess Anna Amalia Library has been reopened on October 24th, 2007

The restoration of Germany's Dutchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar has been completed three years after it was damaged by fire. The library, a UNESCO World Heritage site, reopens to the public on Wednesday, Oct. 24. The 2004 blaze destroyed 37 paintings and 50,000 books, all of them hundreds of years old. It also revived Germany's trauma over the loss of irreplaceable archives and libraries to bombs during World War II. The fire was caused by an electrical malfunction. When the library reopens Wednesday, it will have 60,000 of its original volumes, said director Michael Knoche. Thousands more are still being repaired. Restoration work is expected to continue until 2015.

The fire destroyed 50,000 historic books and the restoration has cost 12.8 million euros ($18.2 million) as workers have painstakingly restored not only the books, but the building itself, including the library's famous Rococo room. The reading room is a lofty gilded gallery with busts of poets, paintings and bookcases set against white walls.