Regional Museum Chomutov

Regional Museum Chomutov

The first mention of the Chomutov Museum dates back to 1851, when head teacher Anton Hübel donated his collection of coins to the village to support grammar school education and as a contribution to the founding of the museum, a local citizen Johann Schiefer a valuable collection of minerals for the same purpose. However, it took another sixty years for the city to take this idea seriously.

A meeting of the municipal committee of 25 February 1911 resolved “with noble unanimity” to establish, support and equip the Municipal Museum for the Chomutov and Sebesti districts and the Chomutov Museum Society and established a joint municipal and museum administration committee. By calling out in January 1912, the company called on “patriots of all professions and estates” to cooperate and collect various scattered natural and cultural monuments from the city and its surroundings and store them in one place. Historical and prehistoric departments, a department for arts and crafts and a library with a collection of manuscripts and documents were created.

Many donations from individuals and institutions soon began to come together. The biggest and most successful event was the organization of an exhibition of Gothic art in northwestern Bohemia in 1928, which became the basis of today’s exhibition. The museum gradually presented Baroque and Rococo collections, Czech porcelain, miniatures, as well as works by living artists. The prehistoric and natural science departments also worked very well.

The post-war period brought fundamental changes to the museum’s close relationship with its city. Objects from the abolished city museums were gradually incorporated into the museum’s holdings. In 1954, the collections of the former peat museum in Hora Sv. Sebestian, in 1963 the collections of the town museum in Jirkov, in 1964 the remaining fragments of the chateau collections from Cerveny Hradek, in 1965 exhibits from the Vejprt Museum, in 1966 objects from the Assumption Museum and the Elizabethan Monastery in Kadan. In 1972, the exhibits of the Municipal Museum in Kadan were incorporated. The increase in collections was also brought about by the liquidation of dozens of municipalities, mainly by mining and displacement. However, the development of professional research was an indisputable advantage. As part of the reorganization of the state administration on 1 July 1960, the museum became a district institution.

For more information about the Usti Region, from which this museum comes, click here and here.

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