The former Schrattenbach Palace, where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Archduke Ferdinand Charles Victor d'Este once stayed, is now the central branch of today’s largest public library in Moravia.
The Jiří Mahen Library, with its central building located on Kobližná Street in the historic city center, has a total of 34 branches throughout Brno. It also includes Mahen's Memorial in the Masaryk Quarter and the IN-Centre in the Klein Palace.
The building of the Jiří Mahen Central Library, dating from the high Baroque period, was created in the first quarter of the 18th century through the reconstruction of two older houses, according to the design of Vienna architect Alexander Christian Oedt. The reconstruction was commissioned by Maria Elisabeth Countess Breuner. However, before it took its current form, the building underwent several reconstructions. In 1725, the owner of this magnificent city palace was Wolfgang Hannibal Count Schrattenbach, the Bishop of Olomouc and Cardinal, after whom the palace was named. He subsequently had the building reconstructed by Brno’s most prominent builder of the time, Mořic Grimm, into its present form. In 1847, the Schrattenbach Palace was expanded with an addition of the top floor. The building maintained its role as a noble residence until 1851 when it was acquired by the wholesaler Theodor Bauer, who began using it for commercial purposes, which led to a series of detrimental construction modifications. In the first half of the 20th century, when the original palace took on administrative functions, two reconstructions were carried out in 1927 and 1940, which helped preserve its highly valuable baroque façade. However, after World War II, the building was so badly damaged that there were discussions about demolishing it. Eventually, due to its historical value, it was preserved, and after securing its technical state, it became the home of the Public Library of the City of Brno (now the Jiří Mahen Library) in 1951.
The historical palace building, damaged by a number of later insensitive structural modifications, was granted monument protection in 1958. It underwent a major renovation and modernization of library operations between 1998 and 2001. This renovation gave the library its current form, combining a modern interior with the original structure and Baroque shell. In 2014, a new social space was built in the attic.
In recent years, the entire network of Jiří Mahen Library branches has been gradually reconstructed and modernized. Notable renovations in recent years have taken place in the branches in Štýřice, Horní Heršpice, "Na Křižovatce", Bystrc, Husovice, and Medlánky. The Mahen Memorial has also been renovated, retaining its authentic villa appearance with the preserved original furnishings in which the writer lived until his death.
