Prague National Museum

Prague, Czech Republic

The National museum was founded 1818 in Prague by Kašpar Maria Šternberg. At present the National Museum houses almost 14 million items from the area of natural history, history, arts, music and librarianship, located in dozens of buildings. Due to major renovations the museum will be closed until 2017.

The main museum building is located on the upper end of Wenceslas Square and was built by prominent Czech neo-renaissance architect Josef Schulz from 1885 - 1891;before this the museum had been temporarily based at several noblemen’s palaces. With the construction of a permanent building for the museum, a great deal of work which had previously been devoted to ensuring that the collections would remain intact was now put toward collecting new materials.

During the 1968 Warsaw Pact intervention the main facade was severely damaged by strong Soviet machine-gun and automatic submachine-gun fire. The shots made numerous holes in sandstone pillars and plaster, destroyed stone statues and reliefs and also caused damage in some of the depositaries. Despite the general facade repair made between 1970 - 1972 the damage still can be seen because the builders used lighter sandstone to repair the bullet holes.

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Details

Founded: 1818
Category: Museums in Czech Republic

More Information

www.nm.cz
en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.4/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Michael Mack (2 years ago)
A stunning building with amazing exhibits inside. This is a beautiful structure inside and out (photos do not do any justice). A must is to go to the top of the museum to the viewing area. Stunning views of Prague. Various exhibits are going on at anytime, so best to check online to see what you want to see on the given day. Weekends (especially during winter) are very busy—-if you want to avoid the kids—-best to go during the week. There is a cafe inside the museum as well.
Abril Rodriguez (3 years ago)
The architecture of the place itself it is beautiful. All the exhibitions were well presented and organized, it is a real travel through nature and Czech culture and history. I would also like to mention that the staff was adorable. I lost my scarf and they made sure I got it back before I left the place. I recommend to visit this place
Jakub Svoboda (3 years ago)
The evolution exhibit in the last floor is simply amazing! It's freshly done together with the long awaited complete building reconstruction. Several large rooms with sea, land and air animals, we were thrilled and so was our 3 yr old son. Whole building is in great shape after the reconstruction, everything is new and shiny. Definitely worth a visit!
G N (3 years ago)
The old building is the most beautiful museum I’ve ever seen. Definitely a must. The exhibits are also well done and most are also in English. Make sure to get tickets ahead of time or come early, since they tend to sell out.
Ciaran Oosterhof (3 years ago)
Good place to walk around for a couple of hours with some great artifacts telling the history of the Czech Republic. We especially liked the classical music room with responsive lights. The view on top is also amazing. Bit of a shame that you have to pay extra to see some of the exhibits and that you needed to show your ticket like 5 times while in the museum exhibitions. However, the building is beautiful and the museum is worth visiting when you are a couple of days in Prague.
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