550 Years of Czech Printing

A panel exhibition by the National Library of the Czech Republic commemorates the 550th anniversary of the first verifiably dated printed book on Czech territory – the Latin Statutes of Archbishop Ernest of Pardubice, printed on April 26, 1476 in Plzeň. The anonymous Plzeň printer received the designation "Printer of the Arnošt Statutes" based on this first work. The National Library will display a Clementinum copy of the Statutes in a special display case; accompanying panels will briefly present the activities of the first printing house, which operated in Plzeň until approximately the end of the 1480s. Two additional surviving copies of the Statutes will be presented digitally on screens – from the library of the Metropolitan Chapter in Prague and the Library of Congress in Washington. The exhibition focuses not only on the Statutes themselves, but also highlights other book production from the earliest domestic printing house (the Trojan Chronicle, the New Testament, etc.) and its pioneering role in Czech-language and Bohemian printing. The exhibition runs in the Clementinum exhibition corridor (entrance A, ground floor) from April 27 to June 2, 2026, Monday to Saturday 9:00–19:00. The accompanying programme includes a lecture by David Mach titled "The Beginnings of Czech Printing" (May 12, 2026, 17:00–18:30) from the series "From the Clementinum Treasures".