NATIONAL MUSEUM PRAGUE

Description

Essentials about the National Museum Prague in brief

The National Museum Prague (cz. “Národní muzeum”) is the Czech Republic’s leading museum of cultural and natural history. It has significant anthropological, archaeological-historical, mineralogical and zoological collections. After seven years of extensive renovation, the imposing building on Wenceslas Square reopened in October 2018.

The history of the National Museum Prague

Historically, the National Museum dates back to an initiative of some patriotically minded noblemen who, led by the paleontologist Count Kaspar Maria von Sternberg, launched an appeal for the establishment of a “Patriotic Museum in Bohemia” in 1818. Its construction was approved by the Viennese government two years later. Before the new museum was built on Wenceslas Square, the exhibition was housed in Palais Sternberg and Palais Nostitz. The museum has borne its present name since 1922. At the end of the 19th century, the museum’s collection was bursting at the seams, making a new building necessary. This was realized in the years 1885 to 1891 in the neo-Renaissance style at the southern end of Wenceslas Square. The master builder was the Prague architect Josef Schulz.

The architecture of the National Museum Prague

The new building of the National Museum has truly gigantic dimensions. The building is 104 meters long and 74 meters wide. Covering an area of 13,500 square meters, the museum has more than 3,500 doors and almost 600 windows. The building has two rectangular halls separated from the central wing. The four corners are decorated with square towers with domes. Above the central part of the main facade rises the main tower with a dome and lantern.

The facade of the National Museum is richly decorated. On the ramp to the museum there are cast lanterns and an allegorical representation of the Czech Republic with Moravia and Silesia, the Elbe and the Vltava. On both sides of the entrance there are symbolic representations of history and natural sciences. On the front side there are also reliefs of the foundation of Zbraslav Monastery, the foundation of Charles University in Prague and the period of the reign of Rudolf II. On the facade there are also gilded marble slabs with the names of important Czech personalities. On the sides of the main tower there are groups of statues representing sacrifice, passion, love of truth and love of history. On the side tops there are allegorical portraits of sciences.

The interior of the National Museum Prague

The interior of the museum is also not stingy with magnificent details. In the entrance hall and on the staircase there are bronze statues of historical personalities and on the walls famous places of Czech history are depicted. The showroom of the museum building is the Pantheon under the large glass dome. It is used for festive occasions. On its walls hang pictures of significant historical events.

Other buildings of the National Museum Prague

Right next to the main building of the National Museum is the building of the former Federal Assembly, which was handed over to the museum in 2009. From 2019, the two buildings will be connected by a corridor. In addition to the collections in the main building, the museum also includes the Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures at Betlémské náměstí, the Bedřich Smetana Museum not far from Charles Bridge, the Antonín Dvořák Museum, the Lapidárium in the Výstaviště, the Jaroslav Ježek Monument in Kaprova ulice, the Monument to František Palacký and František Ladislav Rieger in Palackého ulice and the Czech Museum of Music in Karmelitská ulice.