The Latin School Library was founded in 1541 and in 1624 became part of the Latin School, founded in 1519, whose rector from 1532 was the Evangelical priest Mathesius, the founder of the registry office and chronicler.
Libri catenati - Books on a chain
From the beginning, the library served not only the school's students, but also doctors, mining officials and miners. The library was closed together with the school in 1627 as a nest of Protestantism. The remains of the Latin library were discovered in 1871 by Karel Siegl in the attic of the town hall. After more than a hundred years, the collection of 232 books returned to Jáchymov from various places in the Czech Republic and underwent restoration between 1976 and 1980. Part of the library was exhibited in the Royal Mint Museum. Since January 2020, the Latin school library has been exhibited in the Renaissance cellar of the Jáchymov Town Hall.
232 books containing 358 works have been preserved from the library, 52 of which were printed before 1500 - these are therefore European intaglios (the oldest printed works). One third of the library consists of theological writings, another third are the writings of ancient classics and the rest are dictionaries, astronomical and astrological works, works, calendars and natural science or botanical writings. Most of the books come from printing workshops in Basel and Venice. For example, we can find here the work Sarepta by Mathesius, the epic Das Joachimsthaler Bergbuchlein by Hans Ruthar and Ptolemy's Cosmography from 1486 with 32 color maps. Almost 70 so-called libri catenati (chain books) are unique in the whole of the Czech Republic, such a collection can only be compared with collections in the Netherlands and Great Britain. The oldest book in the collection is the Old Testament from the 12th century, the largest book is a Renaissance hymnal and the youngest book is Cosmographia by Sebastian Münster from 1629.
More detailed information HERE
Photo 1-3: 1-3: 1-3: Latin School Library Exhibition