History of the Memorial of National Literature

1950 -- On April 14, the Premonstratensians were forced to leave the Strahov Monastery, which had been taken over by the State Office for Religious Affairs. The National Cultural Commission was established simultaneously to oversee the use of monasteries and their art and library collections. A Museum of National Revival was supposed to be established in Strahov.

1951 -- The plan for the establishment of the Museum of the National Revival was expanded and a Memorial of National Culture with an emphasis on literature was to be created. On 21 September the Strahov Library was opened.

1952 -- On 22 January, the Memorial of National Culture (MNC) was founded, and took over the Strahov Monastery, including the collections of the Strahov Library (130,000 volumes) and the monastery libraries (400,000 volumes). At the same time the Monastery housed the Institute for Czech Literature of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (ČSAV).

1953 –The scope of the PNK's activities was narrowed and a museum of Czech literature was established under the name of the Memorial of National Literature (PNP). On 8 May, an exposition on the evolution of Czech literature was opened (the scenario was prepared by the Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences under the editorship of J. Mukařovský).

1958 -- The so-called provisional group of museums under the leadership of the PNP was established (the Antonín Dvořák Museum, the Bedřich Smetana Museum and the Alois Jirásek Museum). On the 10th of November 1948, the government decided to transform the Star summer palace in the preserve on the White Mountain in Prague 6 into the Jirásek Museum. In 1949-1950, reconstruction (P. Janák) and preparation of the exhibition (Z. Nejedlý) took place. On the 100th anniversary of the writer's birth (2 September 1951), the Alois Jirásek Museum was opened.

1962 -- On 30 March, the preserve, the Star Summer Palace and the battlefield with the mound of the fallen in the Battle of White Mountain were inscribed on the list of national cultural monuments (NKP Bílá hora).

1964 -- On 1 January, the PNP incorporated the Literary Archive, until then part of the National Museum Library. By the decision of the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Alois Jirásek and Mikoláš Alš Museum was created, with exhibitions belonging to the National Cultural Monument Bílá hora (1966) and Mikoláš Alš (1967).

1970 -- On 11 May, the PNP rented a part of the restored chateau in Staré Hrady u Jičína for the purposes of a literary archive, later the J. Vrchlický study was installed there (1974).

1976 -- The Antonín Dvořák and Bedřich Smetana Museums were integrated into the National Museum as a part of the Museum of Czech Music, the Alois Jirásek and Mikoláš Alš Museum remained a part of the PNP.

1990 -- On 19 July, the Strahov Monastery was handed over to the Royal Canonry of the Premonstratensians at Strahov on the basis of laws on the mitigation of wrongs caused to churches. The PNP became a tenant of a part of the premises and began vacating the premises. The exhibition was gradually closed down.

1991 -- On January 1, the Cabinet of Exlibris in Chrudim was incorporated into the PNP, and the PNP took over the organization of the book marks competitions and exhibitions held together with the congresses of the Society of Collectors and Friends of Exlibris (since 1974).

1992 -- On 17 November, the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic issued the statute of the PNP defining its mission: a specialized museum of the Czech Republic that collects, processes, preserves and makes archival, book and art sources on the history of literature and book culture from the end of the 18th century to the present available.

1993 -- The PNP developed a concept of dislocation, consisting of vacating space in the monastery by expanding detached workplaces outside of Prague. The utilization concept of the Star Summer Palace was changed and the building was secured for the PNP's new headquarters.

2000 -- On 25 May, the Star Summer Palace was opened to the public after a reconstruction. An exhibition on the use of the summer palace over four centuries, entitled Past and Present, was created as part of the Prague 2000 - European City of Culture programme. On 29 December, the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic issued the founding charter, according to which the PNP fulfils the function of a museum and is established for the purpose of acquiring, collecting, permanently preserving, registering, professionally processing and making to the public collections of a museum nature from the 18th century to the present available.

2002 -- On 25 September, the PNP collection was entered into the central register of collections of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.

2004 -- On 31 October, the reconstruction of the imperial kitchen ("hájenka"), built 1555-1558 as a hinterland of the Star Summer Palace, was completed. In the hájenka there is a depository of the library of Jiří Karásek of Lvovice and other library units, in the study room an exposition on the life and work of Jiří Karásek of Lvovice was installed.

2005 -- The PNP acquired a building with an extension and part of the land in Prague 6 - Bubenč on the basis of Government Resolution No. 346 of 23 March 2005. As part of the European Heritage Days programme (15 September), with the theme "New Life in Historic Environments", and in connection with the 50th anniversary of the transfer of the collection of J. Karásek from Lvovice to the PNP (1955), the hájenka was opened for a one-time visit.

2006 -- The PNP acquired another building in Prague 6 - Bubenč in Pelléova Street on the basis of Government Resolution No. 301 of 22 March 2006. In April, the study room in the hájenka was opened to the public.

2007 – The extension of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was handed over to the PNP, and the house and land in Pelléova Street were transferred to the PNP as a replacement. In April, activities aimed at the construction of the building at 20/70 Pelléova Street, Prague 6 - Bubeneč were started, but due to financial constraints they were not ultimately implemented.

2008 -- The issue of the reconstruction and relocation of the PNP to a new headquarters in Bubeneč remains open due to administrative issues. The institution received an offer to build a central depository in Terezín supported by the possibility of using the IOP program. Due to the fact that the city is located in a flood zone, the offer could not be accepted. At the end of 2008, in connection with the release of part of the depository in Staré Hrady, a lease was obtained in Duchcov (NPÚ).

2009 -- The depository at the Duchcov State Chateau was opened and accreditation was obtained by the Archival Administration of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic. An application was also submitted this year for the PNP to be classified as a scientific research institution. During the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU, the exhibition Literature without Borders and an international evening of poetry were held at the Cervantes Institute in Prague.

2010 -- On the basis of a request from the year 2009, the transfer of the properties and the premises of the former military buildings in Litoměřice to the PNP was completed free of charge. An investment plan was also submitted for the use of these buildings as the central depository of the PNP. The so-called "Little Villa" at 20/70 Pelléova Street, Prague 6, was put into operation and the programme activities and operation of the digitisation workplace started there. On the basis of the documents discussed by the PNP with the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and ÚHOS, on 24 September 2010, a resolution of the Council for Research, Science and Innovation gave its approval to include the institution in the list of research organisations. The decision of the Minister of Culture of the Czech Republic resulted in a change in the PNP's founding charter in the sense of expanding its activities to include applied research and experimental development.

2011 -- Administrative matters (restitution claim filed by MHMP) were resolved in the ownership issue in favour of PNP. The investment plan related to the new PNP headquarters was submitted to the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic this year. PNP participated in the Prague Museum Night for the first time.

2012 -- On the basis of the newly established conditions, registration was carried out and a selection procedure for the project of the Central Depository in Litoměřice was announced. The launching of scientific publications in the new edition of the Depository took place. A new programme cycle Evenings of European Literature was launched.

2013 -- On the occasion of the 60-year history of the institution, a publication entitled "Memorial of National Literature 1953-2013" was published. A selection procedure for the construction works of the Central Depository in Litoměřice was announced. A third, smaller building was acquired, completing the whole area of the Central Depository in Litoměřice.

2014 -- Construction work on the Central Depository in Litoměřice was started and the first stage of the renovation was largely completed. A project for the new PNP headquarters in Petschek's Villa has also been developed and the selection procedure for the construction contractor will be held.

2015 -- The first stage of the renovation of the Central Depository in Litoměřice was completed, and within the renovation the works on the building of the Literary Archive Depository were completed in its entirety. PNP became a co-organiser of the 5th World Congress of Literary Bohemistics. The PNP launched the Methodical Centre for Book Culture and Literary Museums.

2016 -- At the beginning of the year, the PNP collections were moved from the depositories in Staré Hrady and Duchcov (at the same time the leases were terminated) to the Central Depository in Litoměřice. 

2017 -- In the middle of the year, the reconstruction of the future PNP headquarters in Prague 6 - Bubenec was started. The building is scheduled to open to the public in 2022.

2018 -- In collaboration with the Institute for Czech Literature of the CAS and the Academia publishing house, the Memorial of National Literature has published a comprehensive visual publication Literary Chronicle of the First Republic. Events - Works - Context. The exhibition Our France was opened in the Star Summer Palace and a scientific catalogue was published.

2019 -- At the end of 2019, the reconstruction of the PNP Central Depository in Litoměřice was completed.

2020 -- In 2020, a competition for a new visual identity was held - studio 20YY Designers was selected. The Government of the Czech Republic approved the purchase of the Petrkov Chateau for the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.

2021 -- The PNP took over the administration of the Petrkov Chateau and a new department, the Czech-French Cultural Centre Petrkov, was established. At the end of 2021, the reconstruction of the Museum of Literature was completed and the construction of the exposition began.

2022 -- On 18 October, the new headquarters of the PNP / Museum of Literature was inaugurated in Marianne Gellert-Petschkova's villa at Pelléova 44/22, Prague 6.