Aug 15 2008
National Museum in Prague
Summary
The National Museum is the oldest museum institute in the Czech Lands in Prague and many tourists have visited this fascinating building and enjoyed the exhibition and rich collection. Find here more reasons for visiting National Museum in Prague.
National Museum is one of the city’s most characteristic sights; this massive Neo-Renaissance construction dating back to the late nineteenth century overlooks the town from the top end of Wenceslas Square. This epic, neo-renaissance construction was planned by Josef Schultz as an architectural symbol of the Czech National Revival. It is the principal and oldest museum in the Czech Republic. A Statue of a Knight on Horseback guards is placed in the Czech National Museum in downtown Prague with Prague hotels, restaurants around.
In the premature 18th century, the National Museum of Prague in the Czech Republic was a scientific organization intended to systematically establish, prepare and publicly exhibit natural scientific and historical collections. The National Museum was founded through the hard work of many specific figures in Bohemia and many photos and construction plans were taken and gone over before the final stages were completed.
The interior is quite spectacular: an impressive staircase sweeps up to the ‘Pantheon’—a hall filled with busts of Czech cultural heroes. The show signs are old-fashioned, centred on fossils, stuffed animals, minerals and archaeological finds. Some temporary exhibitions are usually on show— these are occasionally of contemporary art.
To get to National museum you can use Subway A/C - station Muzeum or tram 11 - stop Muzeum. Basic price for ticket is 120 CZK. If you stay in Prague hotels near National Museum, you can walk by foot.
The Museum keeps over 14 million artifacts covering all features of science and history. Permanent Exhibitions in the National Museum:
• Primeval history of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia - depicts the concurrent development of the varied cultures in the area and the other contains archaeological discoveries and models of fortified dwellings and ritual burials.
• Mineralogical & petrological collection has over 200,000 specimens of minerals, rocks, gemstones, meteorites, tektites and dynamic geology, but only around 12,000 are on display.
• Zoological collection has more than 5000 creatures exhibited, including a giant sea sponge from Java, the world’s largest-known butterfly and a varied collection of shells from the giant clam to the sea mollusc.
• Palaeontological collection - contains specimens from the Bohemian Massif from the Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and Cainozoic eras, as well as a section called Life During the Course of the Earth’s Geological History that charts the development of the organic world.
• Anthropological collection demonstrates the methods used by anthropologists to obtain information by studying ancient human bones through osteometry (the measuring of bones) and osteomorphoscopy (description of bones). The Antropology Department detain one of the largest collection in the world although not all is on display.
The museum hosts a number of temporary exhibitions alongside its permanent collection, which includes information and artifacts concerned with primeval Bohemian history, anthropology, mineralogy and zoology. These are normally housed in the Hollareum exhibit hall on the earth floor of the main building together with the two corridors leading to this space from the entrance vestibule. There are frequently other great quality exhibits in the Museum of Book Culture also on the ground floor before the entrance into the study room of the national Museum Library.