The National Library of the Czech Republic is based in the Clementinum in Prague and is a state-funded organisation. Its founder is the Ministry of Culture, and its activity follows from the cultural policy of the state [1].
Status and tasks
Under the Library Act (257/2001 Coll.) it is a library with a universal collection, to which specialised collections are added, and an institution that permanently preserves a conservation and historical collection. It is the centre of the library system and performs advisory, methodological, standardisation, research, analytical, educational, information, professional and coordination tasks [1]. The library is governed by its founding charter and organisational rules [1].
The National Library of the Czech Republic administers the Czech Union Catalogue, which contains data on the holdings of most Czech libraries [1].
Collections
According to the library's website, the collections hold more than 7.5 million documents, and almost 90,000 new ones are added every year. An autonomous part is the Slavonic Library, with specialist Slavic studies literature and selected original works of the Slavic peoples [1].
The collections include more than 21,500 manuscripts, about four thousand incunabula (prints from the period between the discovery of printing and 1500) and more than 200,000 old prints from the years 1501–1800. The oldest manuscripts date from the 3rd century in Hellenistic Egypt, the European ones from the end of the 8th century, and the youngest from the first half of the 20th century. The centre of gravity of the historical collections lies in medieval Latin manuscripts, supplemented by Persian and Arabic manuscripts and Sanskrit texts written on palm leaves. The library regards as its most valuable manuscript the Vyšehrad Codex, which is connected with the coronation of Vratislav, the first Czech king, in 1085 [1].
The modern collections, printed after 1800, consist of books, newspapers, magazines, maps, posters and other documents published in Czech territory, and according to the library they are the most complete collection of Czech production from that year. The collections of the Music Department are also significant [1].
Information on documents is available electronically according to international standards. Manuscripts and old prints are made accessible by the digital gateway Manuscriptorium, and modern collections by the National Digital Library (ndk.cz), where the availability of titles is determined by copyright law and licence agreements [1].
The Clementinum and its history
The Clementinum, a national cultural monument, is the seat of the library. Its construction began in 1556 with the arrival of the Jesuits, who gradually built on the site of a Dominican monastery an extensive college, one of the largest Baroque building complexes in Europe. The main construction period lasted from 1578 to 1726 [2].
A chapel of Saint Clement is documented in the 11th century, and a Dominican monastery was founded in 1232. In the monastery's Latin school a studium generale arose in the 14th century, which merged with the university founded by Charles IV; in 1366 he donated to it a set of codices [2]. After 1622 Charles University passed under Jesuit administration and its libraries moved to the Clementinum. In 1654 the university merged with the Jesuit one under the name Charles-Ferdinand University and had its seat in the Clementinum [2]. In the 17th and 18th centuries a Jesuit printing house operated here, in 1722 the Mathematical Museum was established and the Astronomical Tower of the Clementinum was completed. The observatory began operation in 1748, and the weather has been measured systematically here since 1775 [2].
After the abolition of the Jesuit order in 1773, the university and the library remained in the Clementinum. In 1777 Maria Theresa declared the library collections a public imperial-royal university library. In 1781 K. R. Ungar founded the National Library (Bibliotheca nationalis), and the Clementinum library was the first in the Habsburg Empire to be entitled to a free legal deposit copy from Prague printers and publishers; in 1807 this obligation was extended to all printers and publishers in the kingdom [2].
From manuscripts and prints, the Mozart Memorial arose in 1837, the first museum devoted to W. A. Mozart; today it is part of the Music Department. In 1887 the name was changed to the imperial-royal Public and University Library, and in 1918 it was taken over by the Czechoslovak Republic [2]. In 1919 the Czechoslovak Bibliographic Institute was founded, and the Czech National Bibliography has been published systematically since 1922. The state bought out the Clementinum complex in 1924; adaptations of the buildings for libraries began and the Slavonic Library was established, which moved to the Clementinum in 1929 [2]. From 1935 the library bore the name National and University Library and the right to legal deposit copies was extended [2]. From 1924 the architect Ladislav Machoň led a reconstruction intended to suit a national, university and technical library, which lasted in stages until the 1950s [2].
Visitors and tours
According to the library's website, the reading rooms are open to readers with a valid card after registration and to holders of a day ticket during a tour of the Clementinum. Details are given by the library on the website nkp.cz and in the Hala služeb [1]. About half a million users visit the library in person each year, and the websites run by the library are used by more than two million further users [1].
A tour includes the Baroque Library Hall, the Astronomical Tower and the Mirror Chapel. According to the library, the set of sundials in the courtyards of the Clementinum is the most numerous in the country [2].