The building is a monument of architecture, the former House of Custom Officers from the middle of the 18th century. It was rebuilt in 1891. The collection grew gradually due to acquisitions and especially donations from school teachers and other personalities of the town. The collection parallels the current loan department of the library and includes Romanian and bibliophile books, Banat periodicals, and books of great worth: Ambrosii Calepini, Dictionarium (1634), Flavii Josephi, De Bello Judaico (1701), La Henryade by Voltaire (1728). The institution was established by Bishop Ioan Popasu (1865) who transferred the Romanian department of the Theology School of Vîrşeţ, follo...wing the restoration of the Caransebeş Bishopric (1885).