Library history

History of the library

The foundation of the library can be dated in 1888 together with the establishment of the Municipal/Town Museum in Most, where books were counted as the first gifts of the museum belong, which became the basis of its fund. Among the first generous donors of rare prints were, for example, the quartet of the Order of Minorities in Most Augustin Schwarz. After the establishment of the Friends of the Museum (Verein der Museumsfreunde in Brüx) in 1894, which set the task of building a library that would serve primarily public education, the library fund was systematically supplemented by purchases of professional literature and periodicals (the largest purchases took place in years 1894-1904).

After 1902, a library from the Třebívlice Chateau was acquired from the estate of Baroness Ulrika von Levetzow (3,572). Another important source of replenishment of the fund was the inheritance of the most important figures such as Wenzel Freyer and Carl von Pohnert (after 1923), Zachariáš Ressl (1930), Josef Konstantin Beer (after 1933), Viktor Patzelt (1941), Friedrich Strieb (after 1942), Josef Borovič (1991), Heide Mannlová (2003), etc. Books were also donated and transferred from school and monastery libraries, eg. from the library of the German real grammar school (the Library of the Abolished Piarist Grammar School in Most), from extinct associations and organizations. In 1938, after the abolition of the Czech Podkrušnohorský Museum in Most (founded in 1928, the library of the abolished association Vlastimil, founded in 1881), the Municipal/Town Museum in Most acquired all its collections including the library.

In 1964, the library of the canceled Municipal/Town Museum in Litvínov was connected and in 1965 the Municipal Museum in Hora sv. Kateřiny as well. Manuscripts and old prints were concentrated in Most at the headquarters of the library (the Social Sciences Department). A detached science department of the museum was located in the Valdštejn Chateau in Litvínov. There was left a library of the former Municipal Museum in Litvínov, in a purpose of the needs of professionals and the public, supplemented exclusively by natural science literature. In 1999 the Litvínov Library was moved to Most and it was definitely connected to both workplaces.