Founded in 1556, the SLUB today houses a variety of collections. The Library collects most comprehensively media from and about Saxony (Saxonica) and – commissioned by the German Research Foundation – literature on contemporary art, photography, industrial design and commercial art, and history of technology. In addition, also the music and the map collection have a special rank. These and other valuable materials are summarized in the special collections department. Finally the Deutsche Fotothek as one of the most important photo archives in Germany has a prominent role.