North Bohemian Museum in Liberec

Founded in 1873 (Museum of Natural Sciences founded in 1879) – present 

The North Bohemia Museum in Liberec was created in 1945 by merging two institutions: The North Bohemia Museum of Applied Arts (Nordbömisches Gewerbemuseum) and the Museum of Natural Sciences (Naturwissenschaftliches Museum). The original Museum of Natural Sciences was founded already in 1879 as activity of the Friends of Nature Society (Verein der Naturfreunde). It was opened for the public on 11 July 1880. The history of the North Bohemia Museum of Applied Arts goes back to 1873: it is the museum of applied arts in Bohemia. The main building was built in 1897–1898 according and designed by architect Fridrich Ohmann. 

 

The Friends of Nature Society was established in 1849 and from the start its ambition was to create a collection-forming institution which is why its members were collecting natural history objects with great intensity. After some years the city council gave them two rooms in the building of today`s school on the corner of the streets Masarykova and Šamánkova. At that time the collections included hundreds of taxidermy preparation (stuffed animals), dozens of wet specimens preserved in spirit, animal skeletons, a large collection of molluscs, herbaria, hundreds of minerals and rocks, etc.  In addition to regional donors, a number of dermoplastic preparations (dry skin study) were donated to the Society by dr. Emil Holub.

In 1901, larger premises were needed and the museum moved to the 2nd floor of the new Liberec Town Hall. The exposition was opened here in May 1902 and the collections at that time contained many thousands of objects. In 1909 the Museum moved to Moskevská street to where the Naive Theatre is today. In 1939 the Society was forced to discontinue its activity and donated the collections to the city. During the Second World War, the town unfortunately stored its valuable collections and its extensive library of over 7,000 volumes and separates in an old factory building, which at that time also housed German soldiers who destroyed and looted the collections and library.

After 1945, the Liberec museums were joined together. The remnants of the natural history collections were temporarily put in storage and gradually renovated, restored and conserved. In 1947, these collections were moved to Masarykova Street number 18 directly opposite the main building of the North Bohemian Museum, and a new exhibition was created. In 1956, however, a public health office was suddenly relocated to this building. The collections were hastily moved out and again temporarily stored in basements, and again damaged. Ironically this building was again given to the North Bohemian Museum in 2017 and it now houses its headquarters. In December 1957, the first natural history exhibition was opened to the public in the main building of the museum, presenting the nature of North Bohemia. This exhibition stayed in place until the 1980s, when it was replaced by a new permanent exhibition which was inaugurated in June 1988. It represented the nature of the whole of the North Bohemia region as it was established then. After the changes in the administrative division of the Czech Republic in 2010 the exhibition was modified accordingly and represented thereafter only the Liberec region. In 2018–2020 an extensive reconstruction of the museum building took place, including the exhibition space. New expositions were created with many interactive and educational elements and the present exhibition of the region was entitled Touches of the North and it presents the nature of the Jizerské Mountains and of the jut of Frýdlant area.

The collections of the Natural History Department currently comprise several tens of thousands of items (approximately 30,000 in the entomology collection, approximately 35,000 in botany, approximately 3,500 in zoology, approximately 4,500 in geology and approximately 900 in palaeontology). The department has been publishing an annual peer-reviewed journal, Acta Musei Bohemiae Borealis, Scientiae Naturales

 (Proceedings of the North Bohemia Museum - Natural Sciences) since 1958. 

 

References

Nevrlý, M.: Přírodovědecké oddělení Severočeského muzea v Liberci. In: Sborník Severočeského muzea – Přírodní vědy, 20/1997, s. 147─164.
Severočeské muzeum v Liberci. URL: https://www.muzeumlb.cz/o-muzeu [28. 8. 2021].

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