Prague National Museum where is also knowns as the Národní Muzeum in the local language is the oldest and biggest museum in the entire Czech. This unique museum was founded in15 April 1818 by Kaspar Maria Sternberg who was the founder of modern palaeobotany. Today, the Prague National Museum (Národní Muzeum) holds and publicly exhibits more than 14 million items which are a very high number for a museum.
History of Prague National Museum
Founder of the museum Kaspar Maria Sternberg also known as Count Sternberk. Because of his expertise, early times of the museum mostly focus on botanic, mineralogy and phytopaleontology. The original place of the museum was in the Sternbersky Palace where is located at the Old Town Prague. In time, Sternbersky Palace became very small for the collections. As a result of this, the museum moved to Nostitz Palace but it became insufficient in time too. Czechs decided to build a new building for the museum at the beginning of Wenceslas Square in 1891. Prague National Museum (Národní Muzeum) is under the management of the national government since 1949. Today, you may find arts and collections belongs to a very wide of topics.
The Buildings of the Museum
Prague National Museum (Národní Muzeum) is not just one building. It has actually many building. Because the museum becomes a cultural organization in May 1964 and started the operate at different buildings. We can write down the buildings; Main Building, New Building and the other building.
Main Building of the Museum
This is the main and biggest building of the museum. Main Building of the museum is located at the upper end of Wenceslas Square as you read above. You should see this building rather than the other because it is the biggest one. Also, the Main Building has the most collections rather than other building of the Prague National Museum (Národní Muzeum). Main Building suffers heavy damage multiple times in history. During World War II it damaged because of bombing in 1945. In 1968, once more Main Building damaged due to strong Soviet machine-gun fire. You can still see a couple of bullet holes over the walls of the Main Building, try to find the sandstones around it. Another major suffering of the Main Building was occurred because of Prague metro construction between 1972 and 1978. One of the metro lines of the city just goes under the Main Building. After all of these sad stories, Main Building extensively renovated between 2011 and 2018, now waiting for its visitors.
New Building of the Museum
New Building of the Prague National Museum (Národní Muzeum) is located just next to the Main Building. New Building was the former Prague Stock Exchange building which was built in 1937. Between 1968 and 1973 building extended for a meeting of the parliament of Czech. Also, you can see a bridge girder when you go to the New Building, that was the biggest glass wall in Czech at that time. New Building also used by the Radio Free Europe between 1995 and 2009. New Building declared as historical heritage of Czech by the Ministry of Culture in 2000.
Other Buiding of the Museum
Prague National Museum (Národní Muzeum) have a couple of more building to exhibit its collections. You can find the list of the other building of the museum below. Each of them is important places to see but Main and New Building always should be on your list.
- Náprstek Museum (Betlémské náměstí, Praha)
- Czech Museum of Music (Karmelitská ulice, Praha)
- Bedřich Smetana Museum (Novotného lávka 1, Praha)
- Antonín Dvořák Museum (Ke Karlovu 20, Praha)
- Památník Jaroslava Ježka (Kaprova ulice, Praha)
- Národopisné muzeum Národního muzea (Letohrádek Kinských Praha 5)
- Památník Bedřicha Smetany (Jabkenice)
- Lapidarium, Prague (Výstaviště, Praha 7 – Holešovice)
- Památník Josefa Suka (Křečovice)
- National Monument at Vítkov (U Památníku 1990, Praha)
- Památník Františka Palackého a Františka Ladislava Riegra (Palackého ulice, Praha)
- Museum of Czech puppets and circuses (Prachatice)
- Vrchotovy Janovice Castle
Where is the Prague National Museum (Národní Muzeum)?
Wenceslas Square is the centre of Prague’s new town and the Prague National Museum (Národní Muzeum) is located at the upper end of Wenceslas. Because of its location, it is very easy to go to the museum. If you are visiting the Prague Castle in the morning you can take a nice walk to the museum from Prague Old Town to the Wenceslas through the Charles Bridge. If you want to use the public transport, Hlavní nádraží metro station of the red line and Můstek metro station of the green and yellow line are very close to the entrance of the museum. Also, for trams and bus lines, you can use the Muzeum stop to get off and on. However, the Prague Central Train Station is located just next to the New Building of the Museum.
Prague National Museum (Národní Muzeum) Tickets
Unlike the many other museums around the world, Prague National Museum (Národní Muzeum) is open 7 days a week between 10.00 to 18.00. You can buy the ticket in advance from the museum’s website from this link or below. Buying tickets from below will give you a couple of advantages like a guided tour, skip the line and city tour. You can also check the museum’s website to see the current collection are in the exhibitions halls.
Please share your thoughts about the Prague National Museum (Národní Muzeum) and questions on the comment section. Also, Don’t forget to visit the Prague Castle where is one of the major centres for European history.
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