STRAHOVSKÁ KNIHOVNA

BRIEF SURVEY OF HISTORY OF THE MONASTERY LIBRARY

The royal canonicate of the Premonstrates in Strahov, which the Strahov library is an integral part of, was established in year 1143 by the Olomouc bishop Jindřich Zdík supported by the Prague bishops Jan and Ota, Czech prince and later king Vladislav and his wife Gertruda. The first community of friar canons came from a Rhineland monastery in Steinfeld. Despite the existence of several Romanic codices from the oldest "layer" of the library, we cannot unambiguously talk about a wilful continual development of the library, maybe we can just state that the origin of funds dates back to the very establishment of the monastery. In the course of centuries the monastery has been afflicted by several catastrophes, which necessarily must have disturbed the continuous development. At the place of obviously wooden buildings, which were burned down in the fire in year 1258, a Romanic construction was built, which has become an integral part of the Prague panorama since then. The monastery was plundered in years 1278 and 1306 by foreign armies and in year 1420 by Hussite radicals from the Prague towns. Then it was deserted during the Hussite wars. After 150 years, when the monastery was fighting for maintaining its existence, the later Prague archbishop Jan Lohelius (1586-1612) was elected to the abbot position, who became the instaurator of not only the monastery itself, but also the Strahov scholarship.

In year 1627 his successor Kašpar Questenberg brought the remains of the founder of the friary of Saint Norbert from Magdeburg to Strahov. Saint Norbert became one of the Czech municipal patrons and Strahov established by this deed i.a. a special place among the other Premonstrate monasteries.

The efforts of abbot Questenberg and his successors to build up a library were disconcerted by an attack of Swedish armies of the general Königsmark in year 1648, by whom the majority of book collections was taken to the north of Europe.

The books collected after the Westfalian Peace received its dignified storage in the 70s of the 17th century in a newly built library hall, which is nowadays called the Theological Hall. Approximately at the same time the library regulations were composed as well.

After extensive acquisitions in the second half of the 17th and during the 18th centuries the growing funds required a construction of another hall, the so-called Philosophical Hall, at the end of the 18th century. At the same time the monastery became one of the sanctuaries of the Czech National Revival, represented by the librarian G. J. Dlabač in Strahov. The second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century were dedicated namely to the catalogue elaboration of the collections. After year 1950, when the friaries and congregations were abolished and their members executed, interned and imprisoned and their properties confiscated, the Strahov library was incorporated into the newly established Memorial of National Letters, and the monastery archive, musical collection, painting gallery and exhibits were dispersed into other state institutions. Shortly after year 1989 after the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia the objects of the monastery and other confiscated property, including the library, returned or have been returning within the framework of rehabilitation of several property injuries to the hands of the Strahov Premonstrates.

The Strahov book collections contain approximately 200,000 volumes, in which there are 260,000 works by estimation. The books are stored not only in the two halls, but also in the adjoint depositories. A substantial part of funds is composed by old prints from years 1501-1800. As valuable we can also consider the fund of earliest prints (over 1,500 volumes) and manuscripts (approximately 3,000 volumes), which are kept in a special safe-deposit room.

From 1/7/2009 to 30/11/2010, there will be a reconstruction of the Philosopher's Hall going on which, however, will have no impact on the operation of the restaurant.