22 museomag   04 ‘ 2019 
A CHAPTER ON RUSSIAN HISTORY 
THE CENTRE DE DOCUMENTATION SUR LA FORTERESSE RECEIVED A RUSSIAN   
RESEARCHER IN THE FRAME OF THE LSE PAULSEN FELLOWSHIP 
In summer 2019, a longstanding wish came true. I trav- 
elled to Luxembourg to research the Fonds Brigitte und 
Klaus Jordan, one of the most significant collections of 
fortification theory. Since the very moment of meeting 
Klaus Jordan in 2015, I kept hoping to see his splen- 
did collection one day. This precious fund is not widely 
known in the scientific world, thus remaining an un- 
discovered treasure. Over the last 40 years, the Ger- 
man couple Brigitte and Klaus Jordan have consciously 
replenished the collection, which was acquired by the 
Centre de documentation sur la forteresse de Luxem- 
bourg. 
A great chance to explore the Jordan Fund arose 
thanks to the Paulsen Programme at the London School 
of Economics and Political Science, funded by the Dr. 
Frederik Paulsen Foundation. I won the LSE Paulsen 
Fellowship to consult the Jordan Fund and to conduct 
research on The 18th century military urbanism on the 
Russian imperial borders in Siberia: circulation of knowl- 
edge on the European fortification theory. During my 
6-weeks study, I had the valuable opportunity to an- 
alyse the collection and its priceless printed treatises 
and old rare manuscripts from the 16th-19th centuries. 
During this time, it became apparent that books from 
the Jordan Fund are related to Russian history, such 
as the Swedish military engineer Lang L. Lorentssen’s 
treatise Inlendning till fortificationen (Stockholm, 1737). 
On its spine sticks a damaged label the Cyrillic text of 
which reads in translation: “Most graciously granted by 
Her Majesty the Empress Catherine to the Imperial No- 
ble Land Cadet Corps Library”. 
ABOUT THE LAND NOBLE CADET 
CORPS LIBRARY 
The Land Noble Cadet Corps was established in St. Pe- 
tersburg in 1731 for the teaching of young aristocrats, 
including descendants of the German speaking Ostsee 
nobility. Future commanders of the Siberian border – 
Weyman, Springer, and presumably, Frauendorf – fea- 
ture prominently among the Corps’ graduates. In 1787, 
Empress Catherine II offered 7,000 books she acquired 
from General Eggers, former commander of Danzig, to 
the Corps. Since the books focus heavily on military 
 Daria Shemelina: “An exciting moment of the research was the discovery of the possessory notes made by the Russian nobles in two 
old printed German-language treatises.“ 
© 
ralph lange