The resources of Cieszyn Library include a few book collections which were created or stored in Cieszyn in the last 200 years. There are too the remains of private and institutional libraries from Cieszyn, which mostly date back to the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, as well as a collection of contemporary books which is constantly updated. The latter book collection includes all kinds of publications related to Silesia, in particular to Cieszyn Silesia, published in Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as bibliographic literature which facilitates cataloguing historical sources. In this collection, there are also humanistic publications devoted to history, art, literary studies, linguistics, philosophy and pedagogy, among others. On the whole, the resources of Cieszyn Library include over 200,000 volumes of printed works, including 17,500 old prints (and 53 incunabula), as well as about 18,000 manuscript units.
These resources reflect the richness and openness of the former Cieszyn Silesian culture, which was created jointly by the various national and religious groups that used to live in this area. Our library collection is one of the most important components of the cultural heritage of our region. At the same time, its real value goes beyond the regional level. Numerous rare books and prints from across Europe make our library an important monument to European cultural heritage, even though it doubtlessly has the greatest bearing on the literary culture of Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic.