History and Presence

The City Museum in Česká Třebové was established on the initiative of the local teacher Jan Tykač (1842 Čelákovice +1921 Česká Třebová) in 1888. Its promoter was Musejní spolek v České Třebové (The Museum Association in Česká Třebová); the mission of the established organisation was to document the history of the City and its inhabitants.

It was Jan Tykač who became the first curator of the Museum and remained in his position until his death. The central theme of the first years of the Museum's existence were lacking spaces for the storing of collections as the Museum had its seat in the building of the elementary school on the square and it never had enough space. Despite of that, the Museum developed both its collection-gathering and presenting activities. In 1891, some items from its collections were exhibited at the representative General Provincial Jubilee Exhibition in Prague, and, four years later, at the no less prestigious Ethnographic Exhibition. The difficulties related to the lacking spaces were partially solved in 1916 when the Museum moved a part of its collections from the elementary school to the newly built realschule, where a new permanent exposition was introduced to the general public one year later.

When the founder and long-term curator of the Museum died in 1921, the teacher František Michalec took charge of the Museum's management. During the time when he was in his position - in 1935 - the Museum was moved to three rooms in the building of the new City Hall on the square. One year later, F. Michalec was superseded in his position by Karel Ransdorf, a teacher at the local grammar school. He was then superseded by the engine-driver Bohumil Blecha in 1937. In the spring of 1938, the Museum, which was celebrating the 50^th anniversary of its establishment at the time, was allocated the whole second floor of the new City Hall on the Old Square. The promising development was thwarted by the existing political situation. After the remaining parts of Bohemia and Moravia have been occupied, the recently gained spaces were again taken away from the Museum and its collections had to be moved again, this time to the building of the old City Hall.

Towards the end of 1944, Bohumil Blecha was superseded in his position by the accountant Stanislav Guth, who later managed the Museum until the end of 1957. At the beginning of the following year, the teacher Bohuslav Štangler became the Museum's curator. Under his leadership, the Museum organised a number of exhibitions on regional topics, while he himself was the author of popular educational publications.  He finished his work at the Museum towards the end of 1968. From the beginning of 1969 to 1985, the Museum's curator was Emil Mikolecký. His engagement in the Museum's operation is also connected with a number of successful exhibitions.

However, starting from 1972, the Museum went through hard times. Its collections were moved from the building of the old City Hall to absolutely unsuitable storage rooms, especially to the premises of the former Horák´s printing office. They were kept there for long 14 years, exposed to dampness, unsuitable temperature, insects and rodents. Therefore a number of precious items were irrecoverably damaged.

From 1985, the Museum was administered by the engineer and designer of the Czechoslovak State Railways Jiří Pištora, who was assigned not an easy task to save the collections. In 1986, three rooms on the ground floor of the new City Hall were reserved for the Museum's needs. In addition to that, it was the time when a chance to obtain its own premises, specifically in classicist house no.11 in Klácel Street, right in the City centre, was downing on the Museum. Constructional adaptations of the house really started as soon as in 1987, however, the nationwide changes launched in 1989 complicated the situation. A restitution claim for the house was lodged, the works on its adaptation were stopped and courts started to deal with the case. They finally concluded the case in 2000 and since then the house has been the Municipality's property, still waiting for its reconstruction.

In the meantime arising from the dispute over house no. 11, the collections had to be moved from unsuitable storage areas. In 1992, the premises of the former military headquarters seat in disused barracks in Semanínská Street were selected to serve these purposes. The building has served as the Museum's depository until today. It has been gradually equipped with safety devices and modern storage systems, with considerable financial support from the Czech Ministry of Culture and the Regional Authority of the Pardubice Region. Thus, the issue of collections storing was settled satisfactorily, however, the issue related to the construction of the Museum's expositions has still remained open. In 1995, the Museum's office was moved from the ground floor of the new City Hall to other temporary premises, this time to the building of the National House in Kozlovská Street 565. Here - again in unsuitable rooms - the Museum had its seat until the autumn of 2006 to be moved to next temporary, although dignified, for this once, premises in house no. 80 in Klácel Street. Nowadays, the Museum has been occupying the exhibition hall in the Cultural Centre of Česká Třebová, and so it can present to those who are interested the Region's rich cultural heritage collected during the 120 years of its collection-creating activities in the form of at least short-term exhibitions. 

Since 2003, the Museum's director has been Jana Voleská, the History and Museology Departments graduate at the Faculty of Philosophy and Science, the Silesian University in Opava.   

Although the Museum in Česká Třebová still does not have its own exhibition, it has been striving to perform all its functions - the creation and administration of collections and also their utilisation for educational, pedagogical and scientific purposes, doing so through - besides the above mentioned short-term exhibitions - its publications, regular lecture cycles as well as occasional events (The František Matouš Klácel, Philosopher, Writer, and Journalist Symposium 2008). Since 2007, it has also been securing the operation of the exposition in the listed building of Max Švabinský Cottage in Kozlov, and newly, since the summer of 2008, it has also been providing qualified guided tours in St. Catherine Rotunda in Česká Třebová.