Museum sights in Czech Republic
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Mucha Museum
This fascinating (and busy) museum features the sensuous Art Nouveau posters, paintings and decorative panels of Alfons Mucha (1860–1939), as well as many sketches, photographs and other memorabilia. The exhibits include countless artworks showing Mucha’s trademark Slavic maidens with flowing hair and piercing blue eyes, bearing symbolic garlands and linden boughs; photos of the artist’s Paris studio, one of which shows a trouserless Gaugin playing the harmonium; a powerful canvas entitled Old Woman in Winter; and the original of the 1894 poster of actress Sarah Bernhardt as Giselda, which shot him to international fame. The fascinating 30-minute video documentary a…
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Prague Jewish Museum
In one of the most grotesquely ironic acts of WWII, the Nazis took over the management of the Prague Jewish Museum – first established in 1906 to preserve artefacts from synagogues that were demolished during the slum clearances in Josefov around the turn of the 20th century – with the intention of creating a ‘museum of an extinct race’. They shipped in materials and objects from destroyed Jewish communities throughout Bohemia and Moravia, helping to amass what is probably the world’s biggest collection of sacred Jewish artefacts and a moving memorial to seven centuries of oppression.
The museum consists of six Jewish monuments clustered together in Josefov: the…
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Museum of Decorative Arts
This museum opened in 1900 as part of a European movement to encourage a return to the aesthetic values sacrificed to the Industrial Revolution. Its four halls are a feast for the eyes, full of 16th- to 19th-century artefacts such as furniture, tapestries, porcelain and a fabulous collection of glasswork. The neo-Renaissance building is itself a work of art, the façade decorated with reliefs representing the various decorative arts and the Bohemian towns famous for them. The staircase leading up from the entrance hall to the main exhibition on the 2nd floor is beautifully decorated with colourful ceramics, stained-glass windows and frescoes representing graphic arts, meta…
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Špilberk Castle
Špilberk Castle may lack fairy tale good looks, but it has been a crowning feature of the city's skyline for centuries. Founded in the early 1200s, the castle was lived in by the Czech kings before being transformed into a military fortress in the 18th century. In this form the castle became 'home' to enemies of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
For great views climb the Špilberk Castle Lookout Tower and admire the rather impressive chime (in the second courtyard), which musically sees in the hour from 10:00 to 18:00.
A multinational band of rebels was incarcerated in the so-called Prison of the Nations. The prison closed in 1853 but was reopened by the occupying Nazis in WW…
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National Museum
Looming above Wenceslas Square is the neo-Renaissance bulk of the National Museum, designed in the 1880s by Josef Schulz as an architectural symbol of the Czech National Revival. The main displays of rocks, fossils and stuffed animals have a rather old-fashioned feel – serried ranks of glass display cabinets arranged on creaking parquet floors – but even if trilobites and taxidermy are not your thing it’s still worth a visit just to enjoy the marbled splendour of the interior and the views down Wenceslas Square. The opulent main staircase is an extravaganza of polished limestone and serpentine, lined with paintings of Bohemian castles and medallions of kings and emperors…
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Museum of the Infant Jesus of Prague
The Church of Our Lady Victorious (kostel Panny Marie Vítězné), built in 1613, has on its central altar a 47cm-tall waxwork figure of the baby Jesus, brought from Spain in 1628. Known as the Infant Jesus of Prague (Pražské Jezulátko), it is said to have protected Prague from the plague and from the destruction of the Thirty Years’ War. An 18th-century German prior, ES Stephano, wrote about the miracles, kicking off what eventually became a worldwide cult; today the statue is visited by a steady stream of pilgrims, especially from Italy, Spain and Latin America. It was traditional to dress the figure in beautiful robes, and over the years various benefactors donated ric…
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Emmaus Monastery
Founded for a Slavonic Benedictine order at the request of Charles IV, and originally called Na Slovanech, the Emmaus Monastery dates from 1372. During WWII the monastery was seized by the Gestapo and the monks were sent to Dachau concentration camp, then in February 1945 it was almost destroyed by a stray Allied fire-bomb. Some monks returned after the war, but the reprieve was short-lived: in 1950 the communists closed down the monastery, and tortured the prior to death. It was finally restored to the Benedictine order in 1990, and reconstruction has been going on ever since. The monastery’s Gothic Church of Our Lady (kostel Panny Marie), badly damaged by the 1945 bom…
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Prague City Museum
This excellent museum, opened in 1898, is devoted to the history of Prague from prehistoric times to the 20th century. Among the many intriguing exhibits are the brown silk funeral cap and slippers worn by astronomer Tycho Brahe when he was interred in the Týn Church in 1601 (they were removed from his corpse in 1901) and the Astronomical Clock’s original 1866 calendar wheel with Josef Mánes’ beautiful painted panels representing the months – that’s January at the top, toasting his toes by the fire, and August near the bottom, sickle in hand, harvesting the corn. But what everybody comes to see is Antonín Langweil’s astonishing 1:480 scale model of Prague as it looked bet…
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Veletržní Palace
The huge, functionalist Veletržní palác (Trade Fair Palace), built in 1928 to house trade exhibitions, is now home of the National Gallery’s superb collection of 20th- and 21st-century Czech and European art. You could easily spend an entire day here – the collection is spread over three floors of the vast, ocean-liner-like building – but if you have only an hour to spare, head for the 3rd floor (Czech Art 1900–30, and 19th- and 20th-century French Art) to see the paintings of František Kupka, pioneer of abstract art, and the art, furniture and ceramics of the Czech Cubists. The French section includes some sculpture by Rodin, a few Impressionist works, Gaugin’s …
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Museum of Plzeň's Historical Underground
The extraordinary Museum of Plzeň's Historical Underground is a web of passages under the town. The earliest were probably dug in the 14th century, perhaps for beer production or defence; the latest date from the 19th century. Of an estimated 11km excavated in the 1970s and '80s, some 500m is open to the public.
Plzeň's wealthier set used to have wells in their cellars. Overuse led to severe water shortages until a municipal water system was established in the 15th century. When wells dried up they were often filled with rubbish and buried; these have yielded an amazing trove of artefacts. The tunnels are dotted with exhibits of wooden water pumps, mining tools, pewter, …
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Story of Prague Castle
Housed in the Gothic vaults beneath the Old Royal Palace, this huge and impressive collection of artefacts is the most interesting exhibit in the entire castle. It traces 1000 years of the castle’s history, from the building of the first wooden palisade to the present day – illustrated by large models of the castle at various stages in its development – and exhibits precious items such as the helmet and chain mail worn by St Wenceslas, illuminated manuscripts, and replicas of the Bohemian crown jewels, including the gold crown of St Wenceslas, which was made for Charles IV in 1346 from the gold of the original Přemysl crown. Anyone with a serious interest in Prague …
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Klaus Synagogue & Ceremonial Hall
Both the baroque Klaus Synagogue and the nearby Ceremonial Hall contain exhibits on Jewish ceremonies and other traditions, most interesting for the historian or devout visitor.
The hall was formerly the Old Jewish Cemetery mortuary and is now part of the Jewish Museum. Built in 1912, the Ceremonial Hall is the site of an interesting exhibition on Jewish traditions relating to illness and death and is a good complement to a visit to the Old Jewish Cemetery (especially if you're feeling slightly morbid).
The baroque Klaus Synagogue beside the exit from the Old Jewish Cemetery houses a good exhibit on Jewish ceremonies of birth and death, worship and special holy days. The n…
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Museum of Communism
It’s difficult to think of a more ironic site for a museum of communism – it occupies part of an 18th-century aristocrat’s palace, stuck between a casino on one side and a McDonald’s burger restaurant on the other. Put together by an American expat and his Czech partner, the museum tells the story of Czechoslovakia’s years behind the Iron Curtain in photos, words and a fascinating and varied collection of…well, stuff. The empty shops, corruption, fear and double-speak of life in socialist Czechoslovakia are well conveyed, and there are rare photos of the Stalin monument that once stood on Letná terrace – and its spectacular destruction. Be sure to watch the video about pr…
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Casemates
At the 19th-century Brick Gateon the northern side of the fortress you can see an exhibit explaining the history of Vyšehrad and Prague's other fortifications. Here you will also find the entrance to the Casemates, a system of vaulted brick tunnels beneath the ramparts. The largest of these is the barrel-vaulted Gorlice Hall, which served as an air-raid shelter and potato store during WWII. It now houses six of the original baroque statues from Charles Bridge, including St Ludmila with the Young St Wenceslas by Matthias Braun (the other originals are in the Lapidárium; see p131), as well as temporary art exhibitions in summer. The Casemates ticket also gives admission t…
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Charles Bridge Museum
Founded in the 13th century, the Order of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star were the guardians of Judith Bridge (and its successor Charles Bridge), with their ‘mother house’ at the Church of St Francis Seraphinus on Křižovnické náměstí. This new museum, housed in the order’s headquarters, covers the history of Prague’s most famous landmark, with displays on ancient bridge-building techniques, masonry and carpentry, and models of both Judith and Charles Bridges. In Room 16 you can descend into the foundations of the building to see some of the original stonework of Judith Bridge (dating from 1172), but perhaps the most impressive exhibits are the old photographs o…
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Mendelianum
At Mendlovo náměstí, in part of the Abbey of St Thomas, the Mendelianum is a museum devoted to the father of modern genetics, botanist Gregor Johann Mendel (1822-84), who opened up new realms of possibility in this area with his pioneering work on the humble garden pea. He was a former abbot of St Thomas.
Mendel's work went largely unnoticed until after his death, when it was discovered that he had identified the principle of inheritance that governs how characteristics are passed on through the generations.
Take tram 1 from the train station to Mendlovo náměstí, and the museum is through a gate into a garden, second door on your right.
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New Town Hall
The historical focus of Charles Square is the New Town Hall, built in the late 14th century when the New Town was still new. From the window of the main hall (the tower was not built until 1456), two of Wenceslas IV’s Catholic councillors were flung to their deaths in 1419 by followers of the Hussite preacher Jan Želivský, giving ‘defenestration’ (throwing out of a window) a lasting political meaning and sparking off the Hussite Wars. (This tactic was repeated at Prague Castle in 1618.) You can visit the Gothic Hall of Justice, which was the site of the defenestration, and climb the 221 steps to the top of the tower.
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Brno City Museum
Špilberk Castle houses the Brno City Museum, which hosts permanent exhibitions on the history of construction, Brno's monuments and architecture, plus a fine arts gallery. Especially interesting is the section on the castle's past as a prison and the exquisite and colourful Brno Law Book and Bibles made for Arnošt of Pardubic (Arnost of Pardubice), who was appointed the first Archbishop of Prague in 1364.
(In the early days of Prague's Charles University, his support was vital when he ordered all monks to study there, thus raising the educational standards of the institution.)
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Miniature Museum
The ‘write your name on a grain of rice’ movement may have undermined the respectability of miniature artists, but Siberian technician Anatoly Konyenko will restore your faith with his microscopic creations. Konyenko once used to manufacture tools for eye microsurgery, but these days he’d rather spend 7½ years crafting a pair of golden horseshoes for a flea. See those, as well as the world’s smallest book and strangely beautiful silhouettes of cars on the leg of a mosquito. Weird but fascinating.
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Postal Museum
Philatelists will love this tiny museum with its letter boxes, mail coach and drawers of old postage stamps, including a rare Penny Black. Look for the beautiful stamps created in the early 20th century by Czech artists Josef Navrátil and Alfons Mucha. Across the street is the Petrská Waterworks Tower (Petrská vodárenská věž), which was built about 1660 on the site of earlier wooden ones. From here, wooden pipes once carried river water to buildings in Nové Město.
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Kampa Museum
Housed in a renovated mill building, this gallery is devoted to 20th-century and contemporary art from Central Europe. The highlights of the permanent exhibition are extensive collections of bronzes by Cubist sculptor Otto Gutfreund and paintings by František Kupka, a pioneer of abstract art. The most impressive canvas is Kupka’s Cathedral, a pleated mass of blue and red diagonals suggesting a curtain with a glimpse of darkness beyond. Free admission on the first Wednesday of each month.
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Franz Kafka Museum
Entitled ‘City of K’, this exhibition on the life and work of Prague’s most famous literary son explores the intimate relationship between the writer and the city that shaped him through the use of original letters, photographs, quotations, period newspapers and publications, and video and sound installations. Does it vividly portray the claustrophobic bureaucracy and atmosphere of brooding menace that characterised Kafka’s world? Or is it a load of pretentious bollocks? You decide.
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Ecotechnical Museum
Prague’s former wastewater treatment plant was built between 1895 and 1906 following a design by English architect WH Lindley. Surprisingly, as the plant was designed to service a city of 500, 000 people, it remained in operation until 1967, by which time Prague had a population of over a million. Several steam-powered engines are on display and more are being repaired; there are also guided tours (included with admission) of the labyrinth of sewers beneath the building.
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Technical Museum
Brno's new Technical Museum is worth a half day of anyone's time. Highlights are cool retro Tesla televisions and stereos, and the wonderful 'Orchestrion', a huge wind-up forerunner to the jukebox with mini drums and cymbals crashing in perfect unison. Don't miss the Panoptikon on the first floor; this huge wooden stereoscope allows up to 20 viewers to look at 3-D images from antique glass slides that are changed on a regular basis. Catch tram 13 to Králove Pole.
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Square
Hradčany Sq, before Prague Castle's main gates, is dominated by the striking black-and-white sgraffito façade of the 18th-century Schwarzenberg Palace (Schwarzenberský palác). From late 2007 this will house part of the National Gallery, although it's going to be hard to upstage the 3D optical illusion of its own exterior. The nearby Sternberg Palace already hosts National Gallery works by Breughel, Dürer, Goya, Rembrandt and Rubens.
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