Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Oct-April 9:00-17:00, halls of Czech
fossils and animals).
he nearby Metro stop (Muzeum)
is the crossing point of two Metro lines
built with Russian know-how in the
1970s.
To the left of the National Museum (as
you face it) is an ugly...
Communist-Era Building
his structure housed the rubber-stamp
Parliament back when they voted with
Moscow. A Social Realist statue show-
ing triumphant workers still stands at its base. Between 1994 and
2008 this building was home to
Radio Free Europe. After com-
munism fell, RFE lost some of
its funding and could no longer
afford its Munich headquarters.
In gratitude for its broadcasts—
which had kept the people of
Eastern Europe in touch with real
news—the Czech government
offered this building to RFE for
1 Kč a year. But as RFE energetically beamed its American mes-
sage deep into Islam from here, it drew attention—and threats—
from Al-Qaeda. So in 2009 RFE moved to a new purpose-built,
fortress-like headquarters at an easier-to-defend locale near Franz
Kaf ka's grave, at the Želivského Metro station. The National
Museum is in the process of installing its collection of non-Czech
objects (such as Greek and Roman art) inside this building, prom-
ising to turn it into a “window on the world.”
• In front of the National Museum is the equestrian...
St. Wenceslas Statue
Wenceslas (Václav) is the “good king”
of Christmas-carol fame. He was the
wise and benevolent 10th-century
Duke of Bohemia. A rare example
of a well-educated and literate ruler,
King Wenceslas I was credited by his
people for Christianizing his nation
and lifting up the culture. He astutely
allied the Czechs with Saxony, rather
than Bavaria, giving the Czechs a
vote when the Holy Roman Emperor
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