Antonín Wiehl was an architect whose name is linked in the history of Prague with the Výstaviště Praha and with the building of the Prague City Museum.
The old Výstaviště grounds were built for the Jubilee Exhibition of 1891. The basis was a layout plan drawn up by B. Münzberger and Wiehl, which was continually adjusted during preparations.[1] The centre of the grounds became the Industrial Palace.[1]
Wiehl was also commissioned to design a new building for the Prague City Museum, but he gave up the task. Since its founding in 1883 the museum had operated in a former café building in the park at Na Poříčí, and the new building followed on from it. [2] The design of the Neo-Renaissance building was then drawn up by Antonín Balšánek. Construction lasted from 1896 to 1898, and the museum opened to the public in it in 1900.[2]
The grounds were later extended for the Ethnographic Exhibition of 1895, and in 1898 the Exhibition of Architecture and Engineering was held there. [1]
The second important structure of the grounds was the machinery hall, a pavilion for displaying machines, which had an iron construction with three naves and wooden side naves. [1]
The grounds were entered through a wooden triumphal arch with two towers, behind which a promenade led to the Industrial Palace. [1]