The Benedikt Rejt Gallery was born in the 1960s out of an exceptional cultural ferment that elevated the town of Louny to one of the centers of Czech culture. This was made possible by the enthusiasm and creative energy of strong artistic personalities. As if by fate, a remarkable constellation of figures came together at the same time and in the same place: Jan Sekera, Zdeněk Sýkora, Kamil Linhart, Vladimír Mirvald, Emil Juliš, Josef Hlaváček, Josef Šimůnek, Jan Jíra, and many others. They devoted their talents, expertise, and organizational skills admirably to the service of art, thus laying the groundwork for the establishment of the gallery.

In December 1964, the director of the District Museum, the sculptor Josef Šimůnek, enabled the creation of a gallery department, which from 1 November 1965 was led by Jan Sekera. In March 1966 the department became independent, giving rise to the autonomous Benedikt Rejt Gallery (GBR), specializing in contemporary art. The gallery bears the name of the architect Benedikt Rejt (1454–1536), whose work combines the principles of Gothic decorative naturalism with the strict geometry of rigorous Renaissance constructions. Naming the gallery after the creator of net vaults—poised between two epochs—is thus symbolically apt on several levels in relation to the gallery’s focus.

In 1967, the GBR was allocated the building of a former burghers’ brewery with the intention of converting it into a gallery. Reconstruction began in 1969, but until 1998 the gallery realized its exhibitions in alternative venues, from 1980 onward in the Small Gallery on Mírové Square. Traveling exhibitions at numerous locations throughout the region became an important part of its activities. Jan Sekera served as director until 1988, after which the institution was led by Alica Štefančíková. On her initiative, the former brewery building was reconstructed between 1995 and 1998 according to a design by architects Emil Přikryl, Tomáš Bezpalec, and Tomáš Novotný. The result was a building of international significance, whose architects were nominated in 2004 for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – the Mies van der Rohe Award. Since September 2020, the director of the GBR has been Kateřina Melenová, and the Louny gallery has begun to write a new chapter in its existence marked by collaboration and openness.

The gallery also administers the Emil Filla Memorial Hall in Peruc, as well as the PRONA Studio in Louny.