The Ritman Library - Amsterdam: Documentary film

Watch now the documentary film by award-winning filmmakers Sara Ferro and Chris Weil. Discover a library with over 23.000 books in the fields of Alchemy, Hermetica, Cabala, Magic, Rosicrucianism and Mystic! Watch legendary first editions, rare books, manuscripts and learn more about the hidden stories and secret symbols of Esotericism…

Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica: How old rare books about the divine essence of things, the hidden reality behind the curtain of visible life can be the first companions for a soul seeking for an inner path of spirituality and how this path can be as well of cosmological nature, bringing to the comprehension of the intimate relationship between Microcosmos and Macrocosmos. How the rediscovery in older printings of betrayed knowledge and concealed truths can ignite a transcendent spark, help to pass a sort of mystical gate and find access to a circle of initiates. In a symbolical alchemical transmutation of the own reality. How some ancient metaphysical Traditions can incorporate the Inviolable, Absolute and Permanent. How a certain particular world of bibliophiles and bibliomaniacs ticks, what motivate them and how to become comfortable with auction while you build up your library – and above all why to build up a library. Understanding books as an engine of cultural revolutions and as a heritage of hard-fought theories and vexed authors, whom we can now enjoy freely. The founder of the BPH Joost Ritman, the director of the library Esther Ritman, the bibliographical team with Cis van Heertum and José Bouman tell us about all this, while Dr. Marco Pasi from the University of Amsterdam narrates the wonderful and captivating history of Western Esotericism.

Watch legendary first editions, rare books and manuscripts like the famous Fama Fraternitatis, Corpus Hermeticum, Tabula Smaragdina, Atalanta Fugiens, Spaccio della bestia trionfante, Plontin Polyglot Bible and discover incredible works of authors like Basilius Valentinus, Marsilio Ficino, Johannes Reuchlin, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, Paracelsus, Giordano Bruno, Heinrich Khunrath, Michael Maier, Jacob Böhme, Lambspring, Robert Fludd, Daniel Mögling, Baruch Spinoza, Matthäus Merian and Stephan Michelspacher.