Library

History of the Library

The establishment of the library can be dated to 1888, coinciding with the establishment of the City Museum in Most, when among the first donations to the museum were books that became the foundation of its collection. Among the first generous donors of rare prints was, for example, the guardian of the Minorite order in Most, Augustin Schwarz. After the establishment of the Friends of the Museum Society (Verein der Museumsfreunde in Brüx) in 1894, which set as one of its tasks to build a library primarily serving an educational function, the library's collection was systematically supplemented by purchases of mainly professional literature and periodicals (the largest purchases occurred between 1894-1904).

After 1902, a library was acquired from the castle in Třebívlice from the estate of Baroness Ulrika von Levetzow (3,572 volumes). Another significant source of collection enhancement became the estates of notable individuals from Most, such as Wenzl Freyer and Carl von Pohnert (after 1923), Zachariáš Ressl (1930), Josef Konstantin Beer (after 1933), Viktor Patzelt (1941), Friedrich Strieb (after 1942), Josef Borovička (1991), Heide Mannlová (2003), etc. Additionally, books were acquired through donations and transfers from school and monastery libraries, for example, from the library of the German Real Gymnasium (which took over the library of the dissolved Piarist Gymnasium in Most), from defunct societies and organizations. In 1938, after the dissolution of the Czech Podkrušnohorské Museum in Most (established in 1928, which took over the library of the dissolved Vlastimil society, founded in 1881), the City Museum in Most acquired all its collections, including the library.

In 1964, the library of the dissolved City Museum in Litvínov was added, and in 1965, that of the City Museum in Hora Svaté Kateřiny. Manuscripts and old prints were concentrated in Most at the main library headquarters (social sciences department). The detached natural sciences department of the museum was located in the Valdštejn Castle in Litvínov, and for the needs of professional staff and the public, the library of the former City Museum in Litvínov was retained, supplemented exclusively with natural science literature. In 1999, the Litvínov library was moved to Most, thus definitively merging the two facilities.

Library Collections

The library's collection consists of a total of 40,500 volumes (rounded figure as of March 31, 2014) and is divided into two main parts: the collection and the specialized part. The collection part (4,165 volumes, historical collections from 1801-1860 are not yet included) is further divided into historical collections (manuscripts, incunabula, and old prints including periodicals, and other conservation collections including periodicals) and regional literature. The specialized part consists of specialized (professional) literature and periodicals.

Since July 1, 2014, an online catalog of the specialized (professional) collection of the library has been launched, which currently contains a small part of the collection; the catalog is continuously updated. The library collaborates with the Union Catalog of the Czech Republic.

Among the interesting items in the manuscript collection (220 volumes) is, for example, a Marian treatise attributed to Arnošt of Pardubice from the second half of the 14th century, the gradual of Jakub of Plzeň from 1537 - 1544 made for the literary brotherhood operating at the choir of the dean's church in Most, known as the "unfortunate hymnbook," or the book of master examinations of the guild of tailors from Most from 1576 to the first half of the 19th century. The oldest incunabulum (9 volumes) is a Bible printed in Nuremberg in 1478. All copies are in Latin.

In the collection of old prints (prints up to 1800 - 1868 volumes), literature focused on religion, natural sciences, medicine, history, law, encyclopedias, and dictionaries predominates, reflecting the focus of the libraries that were their original owners (monasteries, schools, etc.). Among the interesting prints are works by significant figures from Most and Litvínov: Jiří Pontan (J. Barthold from Breitenberg), Jakub Pontan (J. Spannmüller), Westonia (Elizabeth Johanna Weston), and Adauct Voigt. The literature is predominantly in German, Latin, Czech, and to a lesser extent in French.

In the collection of other conservation collections (historical prints from 1801 - 1860, other interesting and rare prints), there is currently primarily literature related to the national revival and literature focused on history, natural sciences, and encyclopedias.

The collection of regional literature (after 1861) maps the area of Most, Litvínov, the Ore Mountains, the Czech Central Highlands, and generally the entire northern Bohemia within the borders of the former Ústí nad Labem Region and the adjacent part of Saxony. Special attention is paid to the history of mining in the entire Podkrušnohorská basin and the documentation of the development of Czech-German relations among the population in the border area. Among the interesting items is, for example, a sample book for the production of Ore Mountain toys from the dissolved toy factory in Horní Jiřetín from 1870. This collection also includes regional periodicals.

In the collection of specialized (professional) literature (including non-collection regional literature, periodicals, including non-collection regional ones), the most represented fields are: local history, geography, history, auxiliary historical sciences, art history, ethnography, history of science and technology focused primarily on mining, encyclopedias and dictionaries, biographies of significant personalities, and from the natural sciences primarily geology and paleontology, botany, zoology, and nature conservation. Among the interesting and more extensive parts of the collection are books from the fields of numismatics, musicology, art history, literature documenting the history of World War II, and zoology. Specialized (professional) periodicals correspond to the focus of the specialized literature collection. The most represented are again periodicals from the fields of history, auxiliary historical sciences, art, and zoology. After 1974, when the first issue of the Proceedings of the District Museum in Most, natural sciences series, was published, a publication exchange was initiated, allowing the library to acquire not only domestic but also foreign periodicals (primarily focused on ornithology and entomology).

Manuscriptorium

The Regional Museum and Gallery in Most began digitizing manuscripts from its collections in 2019 through the VISK 6 project, supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic. The first preserved and accessible codex is the manuscript referred to as the Most Unfortunate Hymnbook.

Digitized historical documents are accessible in the European digital library Manuscriptorium.

Manuscriptorium is a freely accessible digital library that provides easy access to concentrated information about historical collections through sophisticated research tools. The aim of the project is to make existing digital content accessible through unified tools to ensure the best possible availability, and therefore the digital library aggregates documents from many significant institutions not only from the countries of the European Union.

Comprehensive preservation digitization of historical documents according to the Definition of Digital Document for the purposes of accessibility and permanent storage in the VISK6 subprogram was carried out at the digitization center AiP Beroun s.r.o.