National Museum Prague

But the museum is also something like the memory of an important phase of Czech history turned to stone, because the house was opened at the time of the national movement. In 1818 it operated under the name "Fatherland Museum in Bohemia". Aristocrats of the then kingdom donated their extensive collections to start the museum.

Major damage during the "Prague Spring

The Prague National Museum still houses exhibits from the early history of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia. In changing exhibitions, the house is dedicated to a wide range of zoology, anthropology and paleontology. One of the pioneers of the museum was Count Kaspar Maria von Sternberg, who was given the post of the first chairman in the imposing neo-Renaissance building. It was not until 1934 that the museum society, which had been running the museum until then, transferred its patronage to the state. The building suffered severe damage during the so-called "Prague Spring" when it was shelled by Soviet occupiers who mistakenly assumed it was the seat of Parliament.

The skeleton of a fin whale

One of the visual highlights of a tour of the museum complex is the skeleton of a fin whale, some twenty metres long. When the collections became more and more extensive, those responsible decided to build an extension. Renovation work lasted seven years before the building reopened its doors to the public on 28 October 2018 with an exhibition on the Czech Republic and Slovakia, presenting more than two hundred significant pieces from various collections. The new National Museum building formerly housed the Palace of the Prague Stock Exchange. Until 1992 it housed the seat of the Federal Assembly and later the editorial offices of Radio "Free Europe".

A marble tribute for eternity

The exterior facades of the National Museum alone are worth the visit in Prague. Allegorical representations of the regions - including those in Silesia and Moravia - adorn the front, whose entrance portal is reached via a hundred-metre-long ramp. On the front side, the visitor will find a relief attributed to the foundation of the historical monastery in Zbraslav. It also commemorates the beginnings of the Charles University in Prague. On the side areas of the main tower, the most important personalities in the history of the country were honoured for eternity on gilded marble slabs. The interior of the museum was designed mainly by artists who also contributed to the decoration of Prague's National Theatre.

The wonder of evolution comes to life

The expansion of the National Museum has created space for exhibitions of a special kind. A children's museum has recently been added to the museum. The wonders of evolution come alive on the second floor with exhibits of animal creatures. Among other things, through representations of the development of prehistoric life up to the mammals. The history of the 20th century, with all the intricacies of politics and economics, is given ample space on the fourth and fifth floors. But also the history of mankind from the Neanderthals to modern times is a focus of this interesting museum on the Vltava.