The paper focuses on the historical collection of the Central Library of the Silesian Museum in Opava. The library collection is presented in the context of the development of memory institutions in Opava (Gymnasium museum in Opava and Silesian museum in Opava) and their libraries. The development of library collections of the Gymnasium museum in Opava and the Silesian museum in Opava until 1945 and destruction of a large part of the libraries collections in 1945 are presented. After World War II the newly established professional libraries manuscripts, were incorporated into the collection (Silesian Research Library and Library of the Silesian museum in Opava). The paper focuses on the development of the Silesian Research Library collection in the 1950s after the dissolution of monasteries in the former Czechoslovakia. Today’s Central Library of the Silesian Museum was established in 1995 by merging of the Library of the Silesian Museum and the Library of the Silesian Research Institute. The paper presents the profile of historical library collections and describes the most important library units (manuscripts, incunabula, old prints) of the Central Library of the Silesian Museum in Opava.