The historical building of the library in Ústí is reopening after two years

Ústí nad Labem - The majestic historical building of the North Bohemian Scientific Library opens to the public after a two-year renovation. The representative spaces of the Wolfrum Villa will serve not only readers but also various clubs. Part of the space includes a literary café open to the garden. The cost of the renovation amounted to 56 million crowns.

The Wolfrums had the palace built in 1915, but had to abandon it in 1945. The villa opened to the public in 1949. In the last century, it was officially named the Maxime Gorky Regional Library, and the locals nicknamed it "Maximka." After seventy years, the villa has been restored. The gallery on the first floor is named Maximka, while the historic reading room on the ground floor has been named Wolfrumka by the librarians.

Interested parties can tour the building from the attic to the cellar on May 1, when there will be an open house. On the same day, the literary café on the ground floor will open. "The spaces were completely inadequate, which is why the historic building was not used much. Now we want to change that. We want it to be lively here even after opening hours. The rooms can be used by closed communities, such as language or senior clubs, board game clubs, and others," said the library director, Jana Linhartová, to ČTK.

Events such as theater performances, author readings, and book launches will take place in the villa, which is connected to the newly constructed part of the library. "We want to hold weddings here, welcome newborns, and otherwise utilize the beautiful spaces," Linhartová said. Experts restored the preserved furniture and frames, and custom textile wallpapers were created, under which is the print that was published during the renovation. "It is a kind of memory capsule," noted the director.

The construction costs amounted to 56.7 million crowns, 40 million crowns of which were covered by a European grant, while the rest was paid by the Ústí Region, which is the library's founding authority.