page_title: Palacký University Olomouc
section_title: Central Library (Armoury)
hierarchical_section_title: Palacký University Olomouc / Facilities / University Library / Central Library (Armoury)
caption_attribution_description: English: Courtyard of the Olomouc Artillery Armoury, today the Palacky University of Olomouc Central Library, also known as The Armoury
context_page_description: Palacký University Olomouc is the oldest university in Moravia and the second-oldest in the Czech Republic. It was established in 1573 as a public university led by the Jesuit order in Olomouc, which was at that time the capital of Moravia and the seat of the episcopacy. At first it taught only theology, but soon the fields of philosophy, law and medicine were added.
  After the Bohemian King Joseph II's reforms in the 1770s the university became increasingly state-directed, while today it is a public university. During the Revolution of 1848 university students and professors played a very active role on the side of democratisation. The conservative king Francis Joseph I closed most of its faculties during the 1850s, but they were reopened by an act of the Interim National Assembly passed on 21 February 1946. This act also extended the name from University of Olomouc to Palacký University Olomouc, naming it for František Palacký, a 19th-century Moravian historian and politician.
  Today the university is an example of an old university in a small town, like Yale University in New Haven and the University of Tübingen in Tübingen.
context_section_description: The Central Library, known as the Armoury (Czech: Zbrojnice), is situated in the historic building of the former Theresian Artillery armoury almost in the town centre, directly in front of the Archbishop's Palace and next to the university Rectory and Philosophy Faculty.
  In the Campaigns of 1742, the Habsburg Monarchy lost most of Silesia and Kłodzko (now in Poland) which were both Lands under the Czech Crown prior to 1742. Olomouc suddenly found itself close to the frontier with Prussia. The Empress Maria Theresa therefore decided to fortify the town. Olomouc's fortifications were extensively upgraded to match contemporary weapons. The artillery armoury became part of the fortification.   Military considerations received absolute priority, and the Armoury was built right next to the Archbishop's palace: ecclesiastical buildings (such as the former Academy of Noblemen) were even demolished to make space for it. Construction of the Armoury was completed in 1771.
  Strictly symmetrical both inside and out, the building is relatively large, featuring the military architecture characteristic of the period. Today the armoury is recognized as one of the most important buildings in Olomouc.
  The Armoury was used by the military until 1989 (the Czech Army Joint Forces still have their headquasters in Olomouc today). After the Velvet Revolution, the armoury became the property of the university: it was then decided to accommodate the information centre in it. However, the building was in very poor condition and needed extensive reconstruction.
  Reconstruction started in 1992 and in 1997 the Central Library opened. However, it was not until 2000 that the building works were finished and the whole building could be opened. The Central Library occupies about half of the Armoury, while the rest is occupied by the Centre for Information Technologies, the University Press, the University Archive and the Eurocentre.
caption: The Armoury courtyard
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.", "Image Model": "u1040,S1040", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Version 1.0", "Image DateTime": "2009:08:13 14:39:02", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "996", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 37, 0, 1, 0, 20, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "9204", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7636", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "33/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:08:13 14:39:02", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:08:13 14:39:02", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "361/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "67/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2560", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1920", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1726", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "38", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}