Since its establishment in 1925 the Town Library in Piešťany has undergone a long process of development. It has taken several decades to transform into the modern cultural institution that we know today.
April, 7, 1988 was an especially remarkable milestone, when Piešťany´s readers and users of library services got a spectacular gift – the useful and purposefully-built building of the People’s Town Library on Školská Street 19. The library left behind the more than modest spaces on Winter Street, which could not meet the demands of the times nor the rising number of readers, and moved to the new premises of the professionally built cultural repository, built according to a progressive and, at that time in Slovakia, rather unique project. Its designers Eng. arch. Bohuslav Pernecký and Eng. arch. Marianna Bogyová took into consideration all generations of readers while they were drawing up the plans: for the youngest children there was a so-called Fairyland room, and later the first barrier-free (wheelchair access) playroom for handicapped children.
We can read about this event in the Chronicles of the town of Piešťany...
On April 7, 1988 Pavel Koyš, the deputy of the Minister of Culture of the Slovak Republic and a member our town‘s Federal Assembly, cut the symbolic tape of the newly-built building of the Town Library in Piešťany on Školská street. The director of the Library Margita Knapová also welcomed other official guests – Anna Rybnikárová, vice-president of the Slovak National Council and a member of parliament from our town, Mária Paulechová, a member of the Federal Assembly, a delegation of the western Slovak Regional National Committee (Zsl. KNV) in Bratislava led by Dušan Lenár, vice-chairman of ZsKNV and other guests, as well as a delegation of town political and state authorities led by Rudolf Hodula, chairman of the Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of Slovakia (MsV KSS). An opening speech within the spacious representational premises was given by the vice-chairman of the Town National Committee (MsNV) Stanislav Turčan. District National Committee (ONV) in Trnava and MsNV in Piešťany gave the 30 representatives of supplier companies, construction work contractors and the director of the Town Library in Piešťany commemorative plaques and accolades for there efforts in creating this outstanding example of socialist development in the town of Piešťany, respectively the Trnava County. The library staff was given Honourable Appreciation for their active assistance during construction. The designer of the project was Eng. Arch. B. Pernecký, who comes from our town and is also well-known in Slovakia as a cartoonist. The statute (organizational regulations) of the Piešťany Town Library came into effect on Jan, 1, 1989. Simultaneously, the People’s Town Library was renamed the Piešťany Town Library. MsNV Committee also later approved the library rules of the library.
From the activities of the library
State of the building
Construction of the library on Školská Street was carried out as part of “Action Z” by the founder who also accounted for the technical condition, material used, as well as the technical and interior equipment. After a few years, problems began to emerge with the technical condition of the northern gable facade cladding, and also the process of settling had begun, which led to leaking on the flat roofs leaking. These problems were partially solved in the years 1993, 1995 and 2000. During this time, renovations were made (the foundation strengthened, the gable walls fixed in place, and reconstruction of a part of the roof), some defects were corrected and reduced to an acceptable level.