The National Technical Library will celebrate its anniversary with exhibitions

Prague - The National Technical Library (NTK) in Prague will celebrate its tenth anniversary on September 9th with exhibitions, guided tours, and concerts. Visitors will see books from the 16th century and can attend a concert by the band Tatabojs in the evening. Library representatives and celebration organizers announced this to journalists today.

In the morning, there will be a vernissage titled "10 Years of NTK in Photographs," followed by guided tours of the building. The second exhibition, Techné, will showcase collectible items from the library's historical collection in connection with both Czech and foreign art.

"On display will be, for example, Mechanics, a manuscript by Hans Holtzhammer from 1603, which contains 134 hand-drawn representations of various machines and drives. We will also exhibit the book L'Architettura, a work on construction by the Italian humanist Alberti in a Venetian edition from 1565," said one of the organizers, Petr Bouza.

The celebrations will also be attended by Romanian artist Dan Perjovschi, who is the author of comic-style drawings in the library's interior. "I have worked on those drawings for about 20 years," said Perjovschi.

The festive evening will start at 6:00 PM, and two new books will be launched during the event. "One of them contains interesting interviews with staff, university rectors, and visitors," said Eva Dibuszová from the publishing house of the University of Chemistry and Technology. The second title, Dan Perjovschi - Text Drawings, collects the drawings with which the artist illustrated the walls of the library. Following this, visitors will be entertained by the baroque orchestra Collegium 1704. The celebrations will conclude with a concert by the group Tatabojs in front of the library.

The National Technical Library moved to its new building in Dejvice in 2009. With a capacity of around 1.5 million volumes, it is the largest library of technical literature in the country. The library provides university students with a study environment and offers, for example, the possibility of using a night study room. It is also a social and cultural center. The NTK Gallery is located within its premises, and lectures and discussions are held there. The building also houses a branch of the municipal library and the headquarters of the Central Library of the Czech Technical University.

The twenty-one meter tall building, designed in the shape of a rounded square, comes from the studio Projektil Architekti. Construction began in the autumn of 2006 and was completed in December 2008. The interior of the building features a spacious atrium that extends from the ground floor to the roof. The design of the double-skin façade results in low energy consumption. The six above-ground floors are adorned with comic drawings by artist Perjovschi. Visitors can find out how many calories they burn by climbing the stairs on the staircase displays.

On the outside, the library is covered with glass panels. Two of the glass shapes fell off the building in February 2017. Repairs to the façade are currently underway. According to NTK director Martin Svoboda, 20 new suspended panels have already been installed. "Load tests will take place within 14 days, based on which a safety certificate will be created. Installation will commence immediately afterward, and the contractor estimates the labor at six months," said Svoboda.

The library has received several awards for its new building, including the Best Building of 2010, the Grand Prix 2010 - National Prize for Architecture, and the Czech Grand Design 2009 award. It has also been appreciated by the Club for Old Prague, which states that it is a new building that does not disrupt the historical environment and stands out architecturally.

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