The National Museum is the largest museum in the Czech Republic. Its main seat is the Historical Building at the upper end of Wenceslas Square in Prague. The institution's collections hold more than 20 million objects. It looks after 16 museum sites in Prague and beyond, where it stages permanent exhibitions and themed shows.[2]
Foundation and the first two centuries
The proclamation on founding the so-called Patriotic Museum was signed on 15 April 1818 by a group of Enlightenment nobles. Two years later it was confirmed by the Viennese government and the monarch. The Society of the Patriotic Museum in Bohemia came into being, and Count Kaspar Maria von Sternberg became its first president.[2] The foundations of the institution included a patriotic outlook and the aim of preserving natural and historical heritage. By its own account, the museum became a centre of Czech national life and a place in which the history of the 20th century is reflected, for example the year 1968.[2]
The Historical Building
A dignified seat on Wenceslas Square was built only at the end of the 19th century. Designed by Josef Schulz, it was constructed in 1885–1891 at the expense of the Bohemian Diet and cost roughly two million gulden. The building became a landmark of the square and is among the largest structures in Prague. The exhibitions inside were still being completed long after it was finished.[1]
For more than 120 years the building underwent no major repairs and gradually decayed. It was also damaged in two attacks by troops, in 1945 and 1968. As early as 2011 it was closed to visitors for safety reasons.[1] Reconstruction began in April 2015, after the finished project had been altered and the tender had dragged on.[1]
Reconstruction
Because of its dilapidated condition, a general reconstruction of the whole building had to be carried out. A total of 495 large windows and 233 doors were restored, 1,300 km of new cables were laid, and six passenger and six freight lifts were built. Both museum halls received roofing, the building gained modern technological systems, and an underground passage linked it with the neighbouring New Building of the National Museum. The exhibition area grew by roughly 30%.[1]
The Historical Building is a national cultural monument. The restoration therefore aimed at the appearance of 1891, which affected the lighter shade of the façade, the painted glazing of the ceiling above the main staircase, the details of the pantheon and the flagpoles by the fountain. The restoration work took place under the supervision of experts from the National Heritage Institute. An investment by the Capital City of Prague also made it possible to transform the surroundings of the building, which the museum uses for cultural events and outdoor exhibitions.[1]
At the beginning of October 2018 the building received its occupancy approval for trial operation. The reconstruction cost CZK 1,795,334,935, VAT included, and the work lasted 42 months. Director General Michal Lukeš called it one of the largest and most complex reconstructions in the history of the Czech Republic.[1] From Sunday 28 October 2018 part of the building was to be open to the public with the Czech-Slovak / Slovak-Czech Exhibition and the exhibition 2 × 100.[1]
Exhibitions
Once the building opened, permanent exhibitions were to follow, among them natural-history ones with a skeleton model of a fin whale.[1] According to a press release from 2023, the Historical Building houses the exhibitions Windows to Prehistory with a mammoth, Wonders of Evolution with a whale, and exhibitions on Czech history.[2] For the 205th anniversary of its founding, the museum offered free entry to all its sites on 15 April 2023.[2]