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
