Astronomical prints of the 15th–17th centuries in the collections of the National Library of the CR.
The exhibition offers an extraordinary opportunity to get acquainted with unique astronomical books printed in the first quarter of a millennium since the invention of printing. Displayed are principal works of ancient, oriental and medieval astronomical science, collected in the 15th-18th centuries by astronomers, famous bibliophiles, and those interested in new astronomical inventions. Visitors will see incunabula containing colour woodcut schemes or symbols of planets and constellations, early printed books with multi-layer rotating models of planetary motions, hand-coloured illustrations and copperplates of frontispieces and engraved title pages. The display has been prepared within the framework of the research project NAKI III The Roots and Fruits of European Science in Czech, Moravian, and Silesian Historical Library Collections and it also features the original owners of astronomical cimelia.