Drawing from history, relying on tradition
We explore the past to give us a better insight into the future. And we look after important documents in order to preserve them for future generations.
Caring for the company’s historical legacy
Since the brewery was first founded our archive depositories have stored a wealth of information placed their over the years by Pilsen’s brewers – the founders of the Burghers’ Brewery in Pilsen, the predecessor of the modern-day brewery – and their successors. One of the archive’s important tasks is to care for our company’s historical legacy and keep it alive.
About the Plzeňský Prazdroj private archive
The archive of the Plzeňský Prazdroj joint-stock company based in Pilsen is, together with the Brewery Museum in Pilsen, part of the Plzeňský Prazdroj historical collections department. The first mention of the file register, i.e. the filing cabinet used to store documents, can be found on the first pages of the oldest book of minutes from the administrative board meetings held between 1843 and 1851. Nowadays, the archive contains 511 linear metres of archival materials, which are divided up into 116 funds and collections. The documents cover the period from the mid-19th century to 2018, when the latest document was added.
In 2009 the archive was accredited by the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic (in accordance with Section 57 of Act No 499/2004 Coll., the Archives Act) and operates as a private archive.
Organisation of the archive
All the materials contained in the archive are arranged in archive funds according to the place to which they relate. The most important, the so-called master archives, are the funds of the original Burghers’ Brewery in Pilsen and others, including the First Joint-Stock Brewery (now Gambrinus), the Prior Pilsner Social Brewery, the Světovar Bohemian Pilsen Brewery and, of course, the Plzeňský Prazdroj and Velké Popovice breweries.
Another large group of materials comprises the archive collections of small breweries from Aš to Železná Ruda, as well as the funds of interest associations and trade union organisations. Valuable documents are filed in the Collection of Photographs and the Collection of Documents.
In 2009 the “Technical Archive” was added. This consists of technical documentation on all the sites belonging to what is now the Plzeňský Prazdroj joint-stock company. It comprises roughly 220 linear metres of documentation, including building plans and designs for machinery dating back to the1880s.