The history of the Liberec Regional Gallery is linked with the foundation of the North Bohemian Museum, which on its opening in 1873 was the first museum of its kind in the Czech lands. The collection of largely regional fine art paintings of the North Bohemian Industrial Museum, as it was named from 1883, was enriched significantly in 1904 by the addition of over 200 works dedicated to the museum by Heinrich von Liebieg. Other important acquisitions were added in 1918 (Dr. Anton Randa’s collection of prints) and in 1927 (Ferdinand Bloch’s collection of drawing and painting). In 1946, the collection of paintings was placed in the former Neo-Renaissance villa of Johann Liebieg the younger, built between 1870 and 1872 in the immediate vicinity of the Liberec Chateau. This physical separation was confirmed legally in 1953. Since then the Regional Gallery in Liberec has undergone many administrative changes, the last of them being in 2001, when it became the only collection-creating gallery / art museum in the Liberec Region – in terms of the number of collection pieces, it is among the five largest galleries in the Czech Republic.

It excels among other institutions not only in its high-quality collection of 20th century Czech art, but also by in the overlap with other European art, for example 19th century Austrian and German paintings or the 19th century French landscape paintings: among others, it owns a unique collection of Eugène Boudin paintings, which is one of the largest collections outside France.

There are also European prints from the Renaissance to the 18th century represented in the gallery collections. In addition, there is an interesting and in some respects exceptional collection of the works of German-speaking artists from the Czech lands.

Despite undergoing several partial reconstructions, the building of the former Liebieg Palace that served the gallery for 67 long years has proven to be inadequate in certain respects. With the successful completion of the project for the reconstruction and revitalization of the building of the former town Spa, the gallery managed to acquire a residence that conforms to strict European standards for the preservation and exhibition of art works, and where there will be many new services prepared for the visitors, including a library and a research room.The exclusive and also rather original exhibition space can be used occasionally for other cultural and social events, all in the generous space of four floors. The Regional Gallery in Liberec, with its new visual style, is becoming a modern institution for the 21st century.