Gallery sights in Prague
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
A
Futura Gallery
The Futura Gallery focuses on all aspects of contemporary art, ranging from painting, photography and sculpture to video, installations and performance art. The gallery spaces, which include two floors of ‘white cube’ halls, a more intimate brick-vaulted cellar and a garden, host changing exhibitions by both Czech and international artists. The most notorious exhibit is in the garden, a permanent installation by David Černý. It consists of two huge, naked human figures, bent over at the waist with their heads buried in a blank wall. Ladders allow you to climb up and place your head – there’s really no polite way to say this – up each figure’s arse, where you can watch a v…
reviewed
-
B
Goltz-Kinský Palace
Fronting the late-baroque Goltz-Kinský Palace is probably Prague’s finest rococo façade, finished in 1765 by the redoubtable Kilian Dientzenhofer. Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite, once stayed here; his crush on pacifist Bertha Kinský may have influenced him to establish the Nobel Peace Prize. Many living Praguers have a darker memory of the place, for it was from its balcony in February 1948 that Klement Gottwald proclaimed communist rule in Czechoslovakia. There are Kafka connections here, too – young Franz once attended a school around the back of the building, and his father ran a shop in the premises now occupied by the Kafka Bookshop. Today, the palace…
reviewed
-
C
Mánes Gallery
Spanning a branch of the river beneath a 15th-century water tower is the Mánes Building (1927–30), which houses an art gallery founded in the 1920s by a group of artists, headed by painter Josef Mánes, as an alternative to the Czech Academy of Arts. It is still one of Prague’s best venues for viewing contemporary art, with a lively programme of changing exhibitions. The building itself, designed by Otakar Novotný, is considered a masterpiece of functionalist architecture.
reviewed
-
D
Prague Castle Gallery
The same Swedish army that looted the famous bronzes in the Wallenstein Garden in 1648 also nicked Rudolf II’s art treasures. This exhibition of 16th- to 18th-century European art, housed in the beautiful Renaissance stables at the northern end of the Second Courtyard, is based on the Habsburg collection that was begun in 1650 to replace the lost paintings; it includes works by Cranach, Holbein, Rubens, Tintoretto and Titian.
reviewed
-
E
House at the Stone Bell
This elegant medieval building had its 14th-century Gothic dignity rescued from a second-rate baroque renovation. During restoration in the 1980s the stucco façade was stripped away to reveal the original stonework; the eponymous stone bell is on the building’s corner. Inside, two restored Gothic chapels now serve as branches of the Prague City Gallery (with changing exhibits of modern art) and as chamber-concert venues.
reviewed
-
F
Strahov Picture Gallery
In Strahov Monastery’s second courtyard is the Strahov Picture Gallery, with a valuable collection of Gothic, baroque, rococo and romantic art on the 1st floor and temporary exhibits on the ground floor. Some of the medieval works are extraordinary – don’t miss the very modern-looking 14th-century Jihlava Crucifix. You can also wander around the monastery’s cloister, refectory and chapter house.
reviewed
-
G
House at the Golden Ring
The restored Renaissance House at the Golden Ring, located at the corner of Týnská just outside the western entrance to Týn courtyard, contains another branch of the Prague City Gallery; the original painted ceiling beams can still be seen in some of the rooms. It also features a collection of Central European art from the second half of the 20th century.
reviewed
-
H
Hunt Kastner Artworks
Long-time expats and Prague residents French-Canadian Camille Hunt and Czech-American Katherine Kastner opened Hunt Kastner Artworks in 2005 after seeing a gap for a gallery focused on contemporary art and a growing need for professional representation of young Czech artists abroad.
reviewed
-
I
Karlín Studios
The best galleries for contemporary art around town include Jiří Švestka; the Rudolfinum; Tranzit/Display; NoD; and Karlín StuGallerydios.
reviewed
-
J
Jiří Švestka
The best galleries for contemporary art around town include Jiří Švestka; the Rudolfinum; Tranzit/Display; NoD; and Karlín Studios.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
K
NoD
The best galleries for contemporary art around town include Jiří Švestka; the Rudolfinum; Tranzit/Display; NoD; and Karlín Studios.
reviewed
