1826–2026: 200 Years Since Leaving Landshut

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In 1826, King Ludwig I decreed the relocation of his oldest state university from Landshut to Munich. The Landshut era was brief in the nearly 555-year history of Ludwig Maximilian University. For over three centuries, the university, founded in 1472, had been based in Ingolstadt, until Elector Maximilian VI Joseph had it—and with it the university library—relocated to Landshut in 1800. Although housed in the spacious Landshut Dominican monastery, the library did not suffer from cramped conditions; however, well over 100,000 volumes had to be reorganized and cataloged, as the vast collection of books resulting from the secularization of 1802–1803 elevated it to the status of the third-largest university library in Germany.

The Moosburg Gradual

To commemorate the departure from Landshut 200 years ago, the original Moosburg Gradual will be on display at the Cistercian Abbey of Seligenthal during the Landshut Court Music Festival (June 12 – July 19, 2026). Adorned with eight large Lombard-style decorative initials featuring rich fleur-de-lis ornamentation and five large pictorial initials (painted in opaque colors on gold), this parchment manuscript occupies a prominent position among the Latin music manuscripts of the late Middle Ages written in Germany. In addition to the customary liturgical chants, it contains a collection of Christmas carols. The Moosburg Collegiate Chapter was transferred to Landshut in 1598 at the behest of Duke Wilhelm V and dissolved in the course of secularization in 1803; the impressive manuscript, created around 1360 and containing the highly renowned collection of Christmas carols, became part of the secularized assets and was transferred to what was then the Landshut University Library. Today it is part of the rare book collection of the LMU Munich University Library (Cim. 100) and has been on public display in Bavaria only once in the last 25 years, briefly during the Long Night of Munich Museums in 2017.

The exhibition participants

The exhibition is a joint project of the LMU Munich University Library, the Landshuter Hofmusiktage e.V., and the Cistercian Abbey of Seligenthal in Landshut. The academic supervision is provided by Prof. Dr. Christof Paulus (Chair of Bavarian History and Comparative Regional History with a Special Focus on the Middle Ages, LMU Munich); he is the author of, among other works, Bayern’s Eras: A Cultural-Historical Illumination (2021).

Date and Location of the Exhibition

• Duration of the exhibition: 12 June 2026 – 19 July 2026
• Opening hours: Friday through Sunday from 12:30 PM to 4:30 PM
• Location: Cistercian Abbey of Seligenthal, Bismarckplatz 14, 84034 Landshut

Contact Person

Dr. Sven Kuttner
University Library of LMU Munich
Deputy Director
Department of Historical Collections
Email: sven.kuttner@ub.uni-muenchen.de