Museums
Prague
Mucha Museum
The Mucha Museum presents the works of the great Czech artist, Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939), the master of Art Nouveau. A comprehensive cross section of works loaned by the Mucha Foundation including lithographs, paintings, drawings, pastels, statues, photographs and personal memorabilia provides you with a unique view into the universe of the artist who is famous for the posters he created for Sarah Bernhardt, the theatrical legend of fin-de-siencle Paris. The museum is housed in the 18th century Kaunitz Palace in the very heart of Prague.
Address: Panská 7, 110 00 Prague more..
type: Museums
email: [email protected]
address: Panská 7, 110 00 Prague
tel: +420 221 451 333
url: www.mucha.cz
The Toy MuseumJirska ulice (Prazsky hrad), Praha 1. A clever idea, this one. When the children are whining about having seen too much culture in the castle and surrounding grounds you can bribe them off with a trip here. There is a large and well presented selection of toys from the entire history of the art of keeping children happily occupied. I feel I could learn some lessons from the ancients in this exhibition.
type: Museums
The Wax Museum
28. rijna, Mustek, Praha 1. Open daily 10.00-20.00. Here it costs 99 Kc for adults and 49 Kc for children. I say ‘Museums’ because there are actually two of them within walking distance of each other. Like all Wax Museums, the collections in both are mixtures of very passable copies of famous figures (with an obvious lean to those of this part of the world) and embarrassingly awful ones that you have no hope of recognising.
type: Museums
Zbraslav Chateau Zbraslav, Praha. This is a Cistercian monastery situated in the village of Zbraslav, about 11 kms outside Prague. It is another large depository of Czech history, with many 19th and 20th century sculptures. The gardens are spectacular and make a superb venue for a summer’s day picnic.
type: Museums
Museum of Decorative Arts 17. listopadu 2, Praha 1. Phone: +42 (0)02 2481 1241. Open: Tues.-Sun., 10.00-18.00 Could be a great museum as they have great stores of Art Deco in store somewhere. Unfortunately, for reasons best known to themselves, there is only a little on show. Even so it is well worth the 65 koruny admission fee to see the lovely permanent exhibitions of porcelain, glass, jewellery and furniture.
type: general
The Museum of Military Resistance Hradcanske namesti 2, Praha 1. Open: Tu., Wed., Thu., Sat., Sun.: 9.30-18.00 The Czechs are famous for their resistance to invading forces (and unfortunately they have had a lot of practice). This museum is primarily to show how the Czech resistance operated during the Second World War.
type: Museums
The Jewish Museum Jachymova 3, Praha 1. Phone: +42 (0)02 24810099. Open: Mon.-Sat.: 9.00-16.30 The Old New Synagogue, which bears the dubious distinction of having been chosen by Hitler to be a ‘museum to an extinct race’ is actually separate from the Jewish Museum itself. It is also one of the oldest in Europe, dating from the 12th century. There are actually six sites of the Jewish Museum proper which mean a bit of walking between places.. The tiny Old Jewish Cemetery has over 12000 graves dating back to the 15th century and is part of the museum, as is one of the most moving more..
type: General
url: www.jewishmuseum.cz
The Smetana Museum
Novotneho lavka, Praha 1. Open: Mon., Wed., Sun., 10.00-17.00. Bedrich Smetana is a major name in Czech culture. He was one of those who helped to develop the Czech identity and his music is very moving to most Czechs.
type: Museums
Naprstek Museum
Betlemske namesti 1, Praha 1. Phone: +42 (0)02 2421 4537. Open: 9.00-12.00, 12.45-16.30
Why anyone would want to travel to Prague from North America to see a museum about Red Indian culture is beyond me. But maybe it is good for a particularly rainy day.
type: Museums