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J.R. Ritman Library - Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica
   
      
Liesbeth Koenen
'It was as if I heard the heartbeat of eternity'
Translation of an article by Liesbeth Koenen which appeared in Akademienieuws 67
April 2002, pp. 2-5.
The unique and valuable collections of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica collected by the native Amsterdammer J.R. Ritman form the essence of his contributions to Dutch culture and humanities which have now earned him the Academy's prestigious prize. Ritman, like a modern Lorenzo or Cosimo de'Medici, invested the proceeds from his company in disposable products on art and especially on the finest books. And he has a mission, too.
Splendour, lustre and brilliance is what irresistibly meets the eye during a tour of the offices of businessman, Rosicrucian and library founder Joost Ruben Ritman. The interior of the seventeenth-century building on the Bloemgracht in Amsterdam is coated with bright new shining marble. Ritman's own desk, too, is made of reflecting material, and it is very strategically placed: Ritman practically works at the foot of the Westertoren, and invariably sees the very top of this famous symbol of Amsterdam reflected in his desk. It is an enchanting and remarkable sight on this sunny spring day. Light and darkness alternate: next to an inner period room with dark wooden panelling and stained-glass windows Ritman (61) had a bright round room built with a skylight, and in its top a small carillon which soon strikes a melody. 'This is really appropriate here, in the heart of Amsterdam, don't you think?' Ritman says with evident enjoyment. In the centre, surrounded by white marble columns, a contemporary copy of Giam Bologna's elegant Hermes, the Greek winged god.
Not a coincidence
Which is not a coincidence, the way nothing is in Ritman's universe. I am interviewing him because he is the recipient of this year's silver medal, awarded by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) to 'persons who have contributed significantly to the flourishing of sciences and humanities in the Netherlands'. The KNAW wishes to honour Ritman as the founder of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, and as a mecenas of Dutch sciences and culture (Ritman, for instance, donated funds to have the Westerkerk restored).
The scholarly library which Ritman started in 1957, was opened to the public in 1984, and has been on the List coming under the Cultural Heritage Act since 1993. For years, until 2000, Ritman has had to struggle with ING bank in order to preserve his world-famous collection, during which time he and his library were often in the news. But all that is history now, and he clearly does not intend to pore over old news. His breath-taking collection of more than 20,000 philosophical and religious books and manuscripts has been secured.
These books are kept in what Ritman calls the 'Hermetic square': an integral building block of houses on the Bloemgracht, the Prinsengracht and the Bloemstraat, including the house where he was born. The term 'Hermetic', which also forms part of the library's name, at first seems rather odd for a man and an institution doing everything to bring into the open sources going back hundreds, sometimes even thousands of years. The term, however, is derived from Hermes, 'Hermes Trismegistus' to be more precise, or the 'thrice greatest Hermes', to whom the Corpus Hermeticum, a compilation of works from Late Antiquity, is attributed.
The Hermetically Open
This Hermes is not a historical figure, but a mythical, legendary one, into whom the Greek Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth have merged. Ritman calls the works of Hermes and those of other Hermetic philosophers fountains of wisdom, of universal knowledge, which for a variety of reasons were invariably lost out of sight. He sees it as his mission to care for the 'Hermetically open', with his library, with exhibitions which take place all over the world.
The Hermetic tradition has been far more influential in our Western cultural history than has been commonly assumed, it feeds the roots of the Renaissance. But what is this tradition of thought all about? Ritman is happy to talk about this, in almost lyrical terms: 'It has to do with the divine core in the All, with the correspondence between the microcosm and the macrocosm. "He who knows himself, knows the All" is a well-known axioma. With my library I wish to show the relationship between sense perception and inner emotional experience. The five senses alone are not enough. What matters is that you understand what you see and act on it. That is what art, science and religion are all about. And man is the link in everything'.
And each individual has a mission, is the firm conviction of Joost Ritman, who is a Rosicrucian. The Rosicrucian movement developed some four hundred years ago as a movement wishing to reform all kinds of values, but especially bring about an inner change in man. The ideas of the Rosicrucians partly flowed into theosophy and anthroposophy, but the movement itself also still exists, and demands a certain amount of 'discipline'of its members, or, as Ritman puts it: 'I am a teetotaller, a vegetarian, I don't smoke, and I eat to live, not the other way around'.
Lost tracks
Ritman thinks the time is ripe for a new emphasis on the universal wisdom of the Hermetica. 'The past hundred years we have really drifted away from God', he says. 'Scientifically speaking we have rather lost track, and if we look at what we have done to Mother Earth, it cries out to high heaven. We must get back to clean air, clean soil, clean water and clean fire. Unclean fire is what I call nuclear energy. With the Ancients everything was still subordinated to the laws of the four elements. After that, man struck out for himself and forgot his origins'.
He himself came to this awareness when he was sixteen. 'I am not saying it was a "Eureka" bath experience for me', he laughs, 'but it was something similar'. Ritman sharply recalls the moment, and appropriately enough for a native Amsterdammer, it happened while he was riding his bicycle. On his way to the Leidseplein in the heart of Amsterdam, on his way back from his school on the Nieuwe Looiersstraat. 'All at once I awoke. It was as if I heard the heartbeat of eternity. I sensed a coherence between all living things. It is the same energy, the same "flow of energy", as I call it. I experienced an instance of stillness stronger than all the noise around me, and I knew: I've gotten hold of something here. It is a call for something I already have an inner knowledge of. That is when I started looking around me and I began travelling. The beginning of the library lies in the south of France'.
Safe haven
Ritman sees all kinds of connections and lines, from Antiquity and Byzantium, via Florence and Venice in the Renaissance, and seventeenth-century Amsterdam until the present. The Greek Cardinal Bessarion for instance, who lived in Venice for a large part of his life, rescued many Hermetic manuscripts when Byzantium fell, and he also commissioned many translations into Latin, allowing these Hermetic works to remain influential. In Renaissance Italy in the fifteenth century there was a climate similar to the climate in Amsterdam in the seventeenth century. Ritman: 'The yoke could be thrown off, there was room for new ideas. What fascinated me extraordinarily was when I found out that everything that was going on in Europe was being printed in Amsterdam. Literature, both domestic and foreign. Amsterdam was a safe haven, where there was freedom of the press. The last breathing-space in Europe'.
It is in this very neighbourhood that a lot was happening. We are going outside. Ritman points out things, says hello to a granddaughter of his who is just leaving one of the houses on the Bloemgracht. 'I have seven children and fifteen grandchildren', he says proudly. But he soon continues with stories about Bruno, condemned by the Inquisition for insights partly derived from the Hermetica. Ritman: 'It was really a continuation of Copernicus, who had come to the conclusion that the earth revolved around the sun, something which was opposed to official church doctrine'. Bruno was burnt on the Piazza dei Fiori, literally, Flower Square, in Rome. 'And now we are here on the Bloemgracht (Flower Canal), and here we have the library', Ritman beams. This is no coincidence, because nothing is.
Much more took place around this particular place in Amsterdam. Ritman: 'The Blaeu brothers made their maps over there. It was the era of the VOC and everything was being mapped out. A little further on Rembrandt was working. The Dutch Republic then occupied an outstanding place in science, too'.
Comic strip
The tour of the library, including the section of incunables and manuscripts not accessible to the public, is staggering. There is so much, and of such extraordinary quality. There is a dedication copy of Lorenzo de'Medici, a Roman de la Rose, Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreuzer. And often also the finest of drawings, miniatures, and other illustrations. In black and white, though often also in colour. 'Whenever my children talk about comic strips, I tell them I have the world's first comic strip', he says, leafing through an extremely valuable book containing illustrations only.
We visit all buildings. The entire Hermetic square, including the house from where he got married and the one where his own publishing house In de Pelikaan was born. Up the stairs, down others, broad stairs, narrow and steep ones. Here we have the Hermetica, there we have Alchemy, the Rosicrucians, Mysticism. These are the four main collecting areas, and they are all interrelated subjects. And there is much more besides. From esotericism and Freemasonry to Symbolism and William Blake. To get a proper idea of the library would require many more visits.
We return to the panelled room of 1625. Ritman is very glad to receive the Academy's medal. 'I would not be thrilled to receive an honorary doctorate', he says, 'it does not at all appeal to me. But this is a recognition with which I am very happy. I also regard it as an acknowledgement. We are practically in daily contact with some four hundred institutions and individuals with which and with whom we exchange and share knowledge. There is a Hermetica chair in Amsterdam, in 1999 we mounted an exhibition in Florence, in 2000 we participated in an exhibition in Rome, and now we are about to open an exhibition partly devoted to Bessarion, which can be visited in the Biblioteca Marciana on the San Marco Square in Venice, from 31 May until the end of July'. Ritman sounds content. He has achieved a lot, often by swimming against the tide. 'I have never stepped aside for aggression', he smiles when we part.
Last modified: July 23, 2003
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