The Collections of the National Museum

The biggest museum complex in the Czech Republic is the National Museum. With over 10 buildings (some located outside of Prague), the museum boasts millions of artifacts and objects from the past. The objective of the museum is to further develop national identity within the Czech lands, the continent of Europe, and the world itself. The impressive collection covers areas of botany, entomology, zoology, anthropology, archeology, mycology, paleontology, and mineralogy. The collections range from natural science to specific fields of sociology. The main building of the institute of the Natio ...

Perched atop the city of Prague and opened to the public on October 29, 2009 after an extensive renovation, is the Vitkov memorial and the massive horse statue with Jan Žižka, the one-eyed warrior proudly overlooking the city of Prague. The grand off white structure has long been an interesting historical monument and cursed one at that, according to many historians (perhaps because of the embalmed body of the first Communist president Gottwald that ended up there on display). The exhibit titled Crossroads of Czech and Czechoslovak Statehood deals with 5 main points of the turbulent 20th cen ...

Located in the Old Town district of Prague, known for its winding cobblestone lanes, colorful Baroque facades and world-class sights is the intriguing Náprstek Museum. This museum features a collection of unique ethnographic oddities gathered by 19th century Czech nationalist Vojta Náprstek, whose love of traveling and primitive cultures brought about the accumulation of artifacts from his travels and fellow Czech travelers who also roamed around the world. The collection spans from all over the world with the majority of the items being from the North and South America, Pacific Islands and ...

The biggest museum complex in the Czech Republic is the National Museum. With over 10 buildings (some located outside of Prague), the museum boasts millions of artifacts and objects from the past. The objective of the museum is to further develop national identity within the Czech lands, the continent of Europe, and the world itself. The impressive collection covers areas of botany, entomology, zoology, anthropology, archeology, mycology, paleontology, and mineralogy. The collections range from natural science to specific fields of sociology. The main building of the institute of the Natio ...

Perched atop the city of Prague and opened to the public on October 29, 2009 after an extensive renovation, is the Vitkov memorial and the massive horse statue with Jan Žižka, the one-eyed warrior proudly overlooking the city of Prague. The grand off white structure has long been an interesting historical monument and cursed one at that, according to many historians (perhaps because of the embalmed body of the first Communist president Gottwald that ended up there on display). The exhibit titled Crossroads of Czech and Czechoslovak Statehood deals with 5 main points of the turbulent 20th cen ...

Located in the Old Town district of Prague, known for its winding cobblestone lanes, colorful Baroque facades and world-class sights is the intriguing Náprstek Museum. This museum features a collection of unique ethnographic oddities gathered by 19th century Czech nationalist Vojta Náprstek, whose love of traveling and primitive cultures brought about the accumulation of artifacts from his travels and fellow Czech travelers who also roamed around the world. The collection spans from all over the world with the majority of the items being from the North and South America, Pacific Islands and ...

Perched at the top of Wenceslas Square next to the grand main building of the National Museum is the former Communist parliament building, now home to the new branch of the National Museum. This strange looking, even unattractive Communist era building resembles a giant black glass table that just so happened to sit on the building beneath. This Communist eyesore, loathed by many, loved by few was built after the old Exchange building was destroyed from 1966 – 1973. This glass monstrosity with its two giant pillars is still complete with nuclear shelters. The demands of the Velvet Revolu ...

Located in Mala Strana and situated in the former Baroque church of St. Mary Magdalene is the Czech Museum of Music. The church was built in the 17th century but was rebuilt in its current style and was used also for a police barracks and archive. The result is a mixture of architecture styles that is pleasant and atmospheric. The grand assembly hall is especially impressive and is a great place to listen to live classical music concerts that are held regularly. The National Museum has used this building to their advantage and has revitalized the space, which now showcases among other musical ...

Located in Holesovice and situated at the Prague exhibition fairgrounds is the Lapidary of the National Museum. The lapidary features a large collection of stone sculptures, most of which were created in Bohemia from the 11th century to the 19th century. The National Museum has over 2,000 sculptures in total kept in a safe, however only the best 400 are exhibited here. At the Lapidary you can see the original sculptures from the Charles Bridge, sculptures from the Loreto and statues from Vysehrad. The sculptures are showcased in eight exhibition halls. It is interesting to note that in 1995 ...

Located in Old Town and situated on the Vltava River close to the world famous Charles Bridge is the Bedřich Smetana Museum. This museum is housed in a gorgeous neo Renaissance building that was formerly the Old Town Water Works. The building was constructed in 1883-4 and features a beautiful sgraffito façade designed by famous Czech painters Mikoláš Aleš and František Ženíšek that makes the building unforgettable. The city of Prague loaned the building to the Bedřich Smetana Society in 1935 for the needs of the museum, which opened in 1936. The present look of the museum and exhibition dates ...

Located in the lush green space of Petrin Hill and Kinsky Garden is the National Museum’s Musaion Ethnographic Exhibition. Since 2005 this exhibition has been housed in the Kinsky Summerhouse, an attractive Empire style building. The Museum focuses on the old regional culture of the Czech Republic specifically the material and spiritual, housing, village farming and habits, all of which are connected to today’s current way of making traditional folk crafts and holding folk activities. The museum holds various social meetings, workshops, folklore concerts and exhibitions. Further ...

Pay a visit to the National Museum’s Antonín Dvořák Museum and spend an afternoon with the Maestro. Situated in a charming renovated Baroque townhouse (“Villa America”), this popular museum that was founded in 1932, showcases a nice collection of Dvořák’s personal items, period photographs, correspondence, music notes / autographs, and more; at the museum you can even see his writing desk, reading glasses, piano, honorary Cambridge robe, viola, and more. The villa was built at the beginning of the 18th century by Count Jan Václav Michna of Vacínov; the pretty townhouse ...