Millions of people have passed through the Liberec Library in ten years

The biggest weakness of the building is its energy consumption. Heating and lighting cost the operator huge sums of money every year.

Liberec - Regional Scientific Library in Liberec, known as the Building of Reconciliation, is celebrating ten years since its opening. During this time, millions of people have gone through this unique building made of glass and concrete. More than 2000 people use the library's services daily, said the library director Blanka Konvalinková today to ČTK. On the occasion of the celebrations, visitors today had the opportunity to peek into places that are usually inaccessible, such as the library's back office and the bookbinding workshop.
The library also presented its rare prints and archives, which are usually hidden in a climate-controlled vault, on the occasion of the anniversary. The library has around 2000 such rare books. "Among the most valuable are certainly the first edition of the chronicle from the 15th century and also a rare book about the Templars, which we obtained from the Vatican a few years ago,” noted the director.
The construction of the new library began in 1996. The twelve-story glass and metal complex cost almost 520 million crowns, including equipment. A large part was funded by the state. As part of the cross-border cooperation program Phare, it was also supported by the European Union, the Czech-German Future Fund, and the German and Swiss governments. The building was erected on the site of a Jewish synagogue that was burned down by the Nazis. The project was supported by the then Czech President Václav Havel and former German President Roman Herzog. The building designed by architect Radim Kousal from the SIAL studio received the Building of the Year award in 2001.
Ten years of operation show that the library was built generously and with sufficient reserve to allow further growth of its book collections, which today amount to 1.3 million crowns. The library has the largest department for children and youth in the Czech Republic and the richest archive of so-called Sudeten. "The biggest weakness of the building is probably its energy consumption; heating and lighting costs us huge amounts of money," Konvalinková remarked. Otherwise, the building serves Liberec well, and its residents and visitors have already embraced it as their own. This is evidenced by the increasing attendance and the number of registered readers, which exceeds 25,000.