Blog

The National Museum Library (NML) digitised another three medieval manuscripts in 2018. The oldest of them is Glossa ordinaria (XVI A 3) from the second quarter of the 14th century, a part of a larger set that used to belong to Augustinian Canons in Roudnice nad Labem. The illuminated missal from the Prague diocese XVI A 12, also referred to as the Missal of the Priest Silvester, was made in the last third of the 14th century. The breviary XVI A 2 was written in the first third of the 15th century and probably came to the NML collections from the monastery of Augustinian Canons in Rokycany.

Thirty manuscripts, mostly from the beginning of the 19th century, were digitised from the collections of the Music Department of the National Library in 2018. They are the scores of works by W. A. Mozart, especially symphonies, but also various of his smaller works were made accessible. All of these documents form part of the set of the Mozart Memorial, which was established in the National Library in 1837 as the very first Mozarteum in the world. It contains a representative selection of Mozart’s work, especially historically important copies and the first printed editions.

The Regional Museum in Mikulov digitised five medieval codices in 2018. The oldest of them is manuscript MIK 6365 from the turn of the 14th century, containing a summary of the contents of Biblical books by Peter of Poitiers and the interpretation of the Books of Sentences by William of Auxerre. The other manuscripts are of Czech origin and come from between the end of the 14th century and the end of the 15th century. They mostly comprise collections of sermons, whose authors include Matthew of Kraków, Bertold of Regensburg, Tomášek of Strakonice and Albert of Padua; manuscript MIK 6362 contains various works for confession; codex MIK 6361 consists of miscellaneous astronomical texts.

In 2018, the Regional Museum in Louny provided access to a binder’s volume containing geographical works printed in Amsterdam in 1674–1676 and dealing with China (Olfert Dapper: Gedenkwürdige Verrichtung der Niederländischen ost-indischen Gesellschaft in dem Käiserreich Taising oder Sina and Beschreibung des Keyserthums Sina oder Taising). Both printed books are accompanied by a number of illustrative copper-plate engravings depicting Chinese scenes.