National Library of the Czech Republic facts for kids
Quick facts for kids National Libraryof the Czech Republic |
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| Baroque library hall in the National Library of the Czech Republic | |
| Country | Czech Republic |
| Type | National library |
| Established | 1777 |
| Location | Clementinum, Prague |
| Coordinates | 50°5′14.62″N 14°25′2.58″E / 50.0873944°N 14.4173833°E |
| Collection | |
| Size | 7,358,308 total items 21,271 manuscripts c. 4,200 incunabula |
| Other information | |
| Director | Tomáš Foltýn |
The National Library of the Czech Republic (which in Czech is Národní knihovna České republiky) is the most important library in the Czech Republic. It is managed by the country's Ministry of Culture.
The library's main building is in the historic Clementinum in central Prague. About half of its books are kept here. The other half of the collection is stored in the Hostivař area. It is the biggest library in the Czech Republic. It holds around 6 million documents. The library also has about 20,000 people who regularly use its services. While most texts are Czech, the library also has old materials from Turkey, Iran, and India. It also keeps books for Charles University in Prague.
Contents
History of the National Library
In the 1200s, a school called Studium generale was started. It was part of a Dominican monastery in Prague's Old Town. This school and its library joined with the university in the 1300s.
In 1556, monks from the Jesuit Order built a school called Clementinum. It was built where the old Dominican monastery used to be. From 1622, the Jesuits also ran Charles University. All their libraries were kept in the Clementinum building.
In 1773, the Jesuits were no longer allowed to run the university. So, the university became a state-run institution. In 1777, its library was named the "Imperial-Royal Public and University Library" by Maria Theresa. Even when the university later split into Czech and German parts in 1882, the library stayed as one shared place.
In 1918, the government of the new Czechoslovakia took over the Public and University Library. In 1924, the Slavonic Library was created. It moved to the Clementinum in 1929. It is still a separate part of the National Library today. In 1935, the library was renamed the "National and University Library." That same year, a law was made about "legal deposit copies." This meant that Prague printers had to give copies of their printed works to the library. This practice actually started way back in 1781.
Even though Czech universities were closed during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939, the library stayed open. It was then called the "Municipal and University Library."
In 1958, all the big libraries in Prague were combined. They formed one large library called the State Library of the Czechoslovak Republic.
In 1990, the library got its current name: the National Library of the Czech Republic. A new storage building was opened in Hostivař in 1996. It is called the Central Depository.
Special Collections
The National Library keeps some very old and valuable books. The most precious medieval manuscripts are the Codex Vyssegradensis and the Passional of Abbes Kunigunde. These are important historical documents.
Making Books Digital (Digitisation)
The National Library of the Czech Republic started making its books digital in 1992. They worked with a Czech company called AiP Beroun. The library was a leader in setting up rules for digitisation around the world. Later, it joined many European projects. This helped them create even more rules, especially for old handwritten books and prints. The library also helped start the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. Their project was the first pilot project for this program in 1993.
The library won an important award in 2005. It received the first Jikji Prize from UNESCO. This was for their great work in digitising old texts. In the first 13 years, from 1992, they digitised 1,700 documents. They made these documents available for everyone to see.
The National Library shares its digital content online. You can find it in two digital libraries: Manuscriptorium (http://www.manuscriptorium.com/en) and Kramerius (http://kramerius5.nkp.cz). Manuscriptorium has over 111,000 old manuscripts and prints. The National Library provided almost 84,000 of these. The rest came from 138 partners in 24 countries.
Since 2008, the library has also contributed to Europeana. This is the European Union's digital platform for cultural heritage. Manuscriptorium shares digitised items from libraries across the Czech Republic. It also shares with other special websites for researchers.
The library also works with Google. They have digitised many old prints and books from the early 1800s. These came from the Slavonic Library. By October 2018, Google had digitised over 177,000 books. You can find these books on Google Books. They are also in the National Library's own catalogues.
The Kramerius digital library has documents published after the year 1800. So far, more than 2,000 old newspaper and magazine series have been digitised. The number of digitised books keeps growing. This is especially true for modern prints.
Incidents at the Library
The library was affected by the 2002 European floods. Some documents were moved to higher floors to keep them safe. In July 2011, over 4,000 books were moved again. This was because of more flooding in parts of the main building. There was also a fire at the library in December 2012. Luckily, no one was hurt in the fire.
Images for kids
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General reading room (this used to be the dining hall of the Jesuit residence in Clementinum)
See also
In Spanish: Biblioteca Nacional de la República Checa para niños
- List of national and state libraries
