Museum history

Museum history

A museum is located at the same place where a former German grammar school was built. Architecturally significant building was completed in 1913 and the grammar school served until 1945 when a technical college was established here.  The building was used until 1981. Since 1982, a former school bacame a part of the museum. – it was officially opened to the public after extensive renovation that was completed in 1996. Museum in Most focuses on regional aspects. The main  research area is the territory of the former district in Most with forays into surrounding districts.

The museum has three major landscape units regarding geomorphological view – The Ore Mountains, the western part of the Czech Central Mountains and Most Basin/valley -  whose nature and history is currently affecting three natural and permanent art exhibitions.

A chateau in Litvínov was under museum administration between years 1964-2005. Memorial to the victims of World War II located in a former crematorium building at the cemetery in Most was also under  museum administration  between years 2000-2013. 

History

Stadtmuseum Brüx

Museum history of town Most began in 1888 when one of the rooms was emptied for gathering collection items due to invitation of the mayor of the town. An official, Otto Scharf, was entrusted to write up the donated items to take care of them. The main interest was focused on german population -their history, homeland and folklore. Museum was established and did exist, but did not develop any activity. Association of Friends of the town museum in Most (Verein des Museumsfreunde Brüx), which began coordinating museum activities, was constituted on January 2, 1894 after several years of developing collections. For exhibition purposes, they managed to secure space in the building at street called „U mastných krámů“ (later Švermovy), no. P. 187 (a place of the former Piarist grammar school). Podkrušnohorské museum, a competitive Czech one,  has been canceled in 1938 when there was a border region occupation and its collections were transfered to museum in town Most. When Most went through a period of intensive bombing across Záluží area in 1944, most of the historical exhibits were moved into the castle cellars in Milešov, where most of them had been returned after the war.

A town museum

In the first half of the fifties, the museum was divided into two main independent institutions: Museum in Most and Archive in town Most.

Museum in a district of Most 

The year 1964 brought another merger, museum in Litvínov was joined to  museum in Most and after that a District Museum in Most had been established. The seat of the museum was still the former Piarist grammar school. Natural science department took refuge in a former Wallenstein castle in Litvinov. In 1965, museum in Most took over the collections of one of the museums which was canceled and built in a location called „Hora Svaté Kateřiny“.The subsequent liquidation of the old town Most forced people moving out within the town due to coal mining. Finally, the museum was anchored in the present building of a former German grammar school in street called Czechoslovak Army, no.1360.

Regional Museum

Newly formed Ústecký region (2003) has become a founder after the territorial administrative reform. The above mentioned situation caused that a local museum was renamed. Renovated crematorium building at the town cemetery where memorial to the victims of World War II  was placed and succesfully managed by museum in Most between the years 2000-2014

Exposure

The natural exposure

Geological past of town Most

Mineralogy of the Ore Mountain area

Nature of northwestern Bohemia

The social-art exposure

Baroness Ulrike von Levetzow (the last huge love of JW Goethe)

Historical furniture 17th-19th century, from the collections of Most museum

The life of inhabitants of the Ore Mountain area-Erzgebirge ("Study Depository") 

Library

Regional museum library in Most has been established along with the founding of the Society of Friends of Most museum in 1888. Books became the first gift and were considered as a fund for the museum. From the castle in Třebívlice, a library acquired volumes of Baroness Ulrike von Levetzow-a total of 3572 pieces. The library also enriched its fund thanks to donations from prominent VIP people in Most area including cancelled and subsequently merged museums and libraries, Piarist school and a German grammar school. A library currently owns   about 40,000 volumes (3600 fundraising part). 

Manuscripts

• Marian tract Ernest of Pardubice (2nd half of the 14th century)

• Gradual James from Pilsen (1537-1544)

• Paper guild master tests of tailors coming from Most (from 1576 to the first half of the 19th century)

• Bible printed in Nuremberg (1478) - the oldest incunabula

The collection of regional literature

• sampler for toy manufacturing. Toys are of The Ore Mountain area origin. They were originally manufactured in a canceled Toy Store in Horní Jiřetín,1870.