The archival materials preserved in the Central Record Office of Old Documents allow to conduct
the studies on ways cf keeping, carrying and protecting Radziwills’ libraries in the 17th century.
The collections were kept in different residences in properly adapted rooms, sometimes secured with
gratings. In the wars’ period all the collections were replaced in order to protect them from damages.
The library in Owanty was transferred to Lubcz due to enrich Radziwills’ private collection. The
books were also transported during magnates’ foreign journeys. We also get to know on the basis
of correspondence about vicissitudes of Radziwills’ courtiers’ libraries: some suffered moistening due
to bad housing conditions (B. Krośniewicz’ books), others were burnt during the war period.
Radziwills from Birza tried to create proper conditions for their libraries and appropriate
protection of archival documents. Prince Bogusław noticed some dangers (dampness, rodents,
lack of permanent place of storing) which precious codexes and single ancestral documents were
exposed to
