Library of the Museum of Prague
Everything you want to know about our library
The Library of the Museum of Prague was founded alongside the museum and, from its very beginning, has focused primarily on the history of Prague and its immediate surroundings.
Until the 1970s, it was located in the original museum building, a former café pavilion in Na Poříčí Park. When this building was demolished to make way for the North-South motorway, the library had to move twice more and currently shares space with the museum’s specialized departments in the storage facility in Prague’s Stodůlky district.
Our library is one of the most important specialized libraries on Prague.
What We Do
We are a specialized museum library that systematically acquires, catalogues, preserves, and makes available specialized literature and journals covering the capital city and its immediate surroundings since the beginning of the 19th century onwards.
We focus on history, archaeology, art history, and the natural and social sciences, as well as other related fields.
We collect specialized literature necessary to perform the professions represented in the museum.
We provide support primarily for professional staff and the activities of specialized departments. However, our services are also available to the general public and students.
Our most frequently used books are old directories. They’re like a “19th-century Facebook.”
They may lack photos, but they contain useful information, such as who just opened a pub or shut down a shop.
What's in the Library
Our collection currently comprises approximately 50,000 volumes of books, periodicals, directories, and other documents. A significant part of the collection consists of historical directories, guidebooks, maps, small prints, specialized publications, and journals dedicated to specific parts of the city.
The library continuously adds new literature related to Prague and the broader history of the city.
Here, you don’t just search through books, you travel in time. Thanks to historical maps and chronicles, you can discover what used to be where your living room is now some 100 or 200 years ago.
An important part of the collection is the library of the Archaeology Department, which contains European specialist work published between the end of the 19th century to the present. Its origins lie in the private library of Josef Antonín Jíra, a prominent figure in archaeology during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The collection includes basic archaeological literature (theory and methodology of archaeological science, results of research activities and archaeological excavations) as well as popular science publications. There are key archaeological journals, series, anthologies, and scholarly monographs.
This dual nature was caused by specific historical developments, as the archaeology department was not established until 1941 by merging with the previously independent so-called Jíra Museum, and it retained a certain degree of autonomy for a considerable period. Both parts of the collection are currently linked by a unified system of record-keeping and cataloguing.
The books often contain real “treasures” forgotten by readers, such as slips of paper with notes, old tickets, letters, and even shopping lists from the 19th century.
The Services We Offer
The core service of our library is supporting the professional activities of researchers, students, and interested members of the public. Researchers can access the library collection focused on the history of Prague, archaeology, and related fields.
The book collection is available exclusively for on-site study in the research room. Since the collections are kept in several repositories, prior agreement is always required before a visit.
You can search the online catalogue: https://muzeumprahy.tritius.cz/
A computer with internet access is available in the reading room. The DNNT service is available in the research room. For more information, see the DNNT Communication Manual.
Library Rules download.
Silence in the library significantly reduceslevel of cortisol, which is a stress hormone.
Contacts
Pod Viaduktem 2595/3, 155 00 Prague 5
e-mail: knihovna@muzeumprahy.cz
Librarian Mgr. Marika Boritzková,
phone number: +420 724 518 258
Librarian Bc. Jitka Vandrovcová,
phone number: +420 702 006 663
Research Room visiting hours: by prior telephone appointment only
The library is registered under Act No. 257/2001 Coll. on Libraries and Conditions for the Operation of Public Library Services (Library Act), as amended, under registration number 6687/2023 in the register of libraries managed by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.