The library building

In the centre of the western side of T. G. Masaryk Square stands the main building of the Jan Drda Library. It was built on the site of what was probably Příbram’s oldest town house, dating from 1379, which is said to have belonged to the reeve Jan of Michalovice. This originally Gothic building was burnt down in 1626 during the Thirty Years’ War and was later rebuilt in the Baroque style, with a pair of gables and arcades.

The well-known coaching inn ‘U Černého orla’ was once located here. In 1860 (according to some sources, in the 1870s), a major reconstruction took place, during which the arcade was bricked up and the characteristic gables were removed. After the First World War, the building was demolished to its foundations. In 1922, it was replaced by the district council building, featuring historicist architecture with a striking portal flanked by columns, numerous cornices and a gable adorned with vases.
This building has survived to the present day. Since 1984, it has been home to the Jan Drda Library.

www.kjd.pb.cz