Prague – museums

The National Museum

is the central state museum of the Czech Republic. It has collecting, scientific, public education and methodological purposes. The museum is composed of five specialised institutes:

Museum of Natural History (mineralogy, palaeontology, mycology, botany, entomology, zoology, anthropology): mineralogical and palaeolontologic collections, of which foundations were donated to the museum by Count Kašpar Šternberk, are among the oldest ones. An important part of the palaeontologic collection, the Barrandeum, was donated to the museum by the world-famous French scientist Joachim Barrande, who lived and worked in Bohemia. The unique herbarium counting over two million items was founded at the beginning of the 18th century by the traveller, Tadeáš Haenke.

Museum of History (prehistory, old and modern Czech history, archive, ethnography, numismatics and theatre). includes the History Exhibition in Lobkovic Palace, Lapidarium at Výstaviště, memorial of František Palacký and František Ladislav Riegr, Exposition of Historic Pharmacies, Tyrš Museum of Physical Culture and Sports, the currently closed Ethnographic Museum in the Kinský Folly and the out of Prague Exposition of Czech Society in the 19th Century in Vrchotovy Janovice.

Náprstek Museum of the cultures of Asia, Africa and America at the Betlémské náměstí and Exposition of Asian Culture at the castle of Liběchov u Mělníka, - Czech Museum of Music (in Prague The Antonín Dvořák Museum, Bedřich Smetana Museum, Jaroslav Ježek Memorial called Blue room; rare collections of the Museum of Musical Instruments include almost 2000 old musical instruments, at present the collection is without its own exhibition space.

National Museum Library with the exposition, Museum of the Book in Žďár nad Sázavou; the library was founded at the same time as the museum. Its foundations were the libraries of the aristocratic families of Kolovrat-Krakovský, Kinský and the library of Josef Dobrovský. One component of the library used to be the Literary Archive, which was handed over to the Museum of Czech Literature.

National Technical Museum

The building of the museum is designed in the international style, which is the later phase of functionalism. For this style the term “individualistic functionalism” can also be used. The building was erected in 1938 - 1941. The building has ta wide U shape with the base facing the parks of Letenské sady. Collections are focused on the greatest exhibits from the area of transport, aeroplanes, locomotives and cars. Three levels under the building is located the mining section, a real ore and coal mine with a one kilometre long pathway. Visitors will find here such unique objects as astronomic instruments used by Tycho de Brahe and Jan Kepler, the first automobile made in our country, the oldest preserved Buggati car, the test turbine of Viktor Kaplan, the salon railway wagon of František Josef and T. G. Masaryk, Kašpar’s famous aeroplane Blériot as used for the first flight from Pardubice to Prague, or one of the oldest daguerreotypes in the world. In the collection of typewriters is for example, the smallest typewriter in the world, the German Taurus, which is the size of a pocket watch.

Museum of Czech Literature

The Museum of Czech Literature was based from its foundation in 1953 in the building of Strahovský klášter (Strahov Monastery). The museum has preserved the monuments and items of literary history from the birth of literature until the present day. It has also kept the facilities of the Strahov library of the Premonstratensian order and the Theological and Philosophic hall. At present the base of the museum is the Literary Archive, transferred in 1964 from the National Museum. It comprises of the whole heritage of writers, poets and cultural figures – letters, manuscripts, drafts, documents, newspaper clippings, photo archive, publisher's archives etc., while the museum makes a constant effort to continuously extend them. The museum has more than 6 million items in the Literary archive, 600,000 volumes in the library and 250,000 objects in art collections (as of 1994). Materials deposited in the objects out of Prague that are required for study are delivered to reading rooms in Prague. The museum also utilises the letohrádek Hvězda (Hvězda Folly) on Bílá Hora. The Museum of Czech Literature has the task of creating, processing, treating, preserving and publishing the archive, book, audiovisual, art and other collections, which serve as evidence of the development of literature and literary history in the territory of the Czech Republic from 1775 until the present day.

WAX museum Prague – museum of wax figures

The Society Wax Museum Prague, Ltd., which opened the first Wax Museum located in Prague’s Rapid Palace in 1997, decided to divide the museum into two parts – the historical exposition, which is situated in MOSTECKÁ street, and the exposition of the famous people of culture, politics and sport of the 20th century, which arose in the newly adapted area in MELANTRICHOVA street.

This exposition is separated into three thematic units:

  1. famous people
  2. podium of dictators
  3. multimedia piece of art “Magic Prague” – created by PhDr. Radůz Činčera – an optical kaleidoscope, which shows an extraordinary presentation of film material. Ahead of the spectator, with the help of mirrors and a background projection, is created a fantastic spectacle, when on an imaginary 70 metres high sphere arises a countless number of small multiplying projecting screens.