Nove Mesto - The Rough Guide to Prague - page 162

Národní muzeum (National Museum)
Václavské náměstí 68 • nm.cz • Metro Muzeum
At the top, southern, end of Václavské náměstí sits the broad, brooding hulk of the Národní
muzeum , built by Josef Schulz in 1890. Deliberately modelled on the great European mu-
seumsofParisandVienna,itdominates theviewupthesquarelikeagiantgoldeneaglewith
outstretchedwings.AlongwiththeNationalTheatre,thisisoneofthegreatlandmarksofthe
nineteenth-century Czech national revival, sporting a monumental gilt-framed glass cupola,
worthy clumps of sculptural decoration and narrative frescoes from Czech history.
Neglected for decades, still bearing its bullet holes from 1945 and 1968, and slowly being
eaten away by Prague's noxious air, the building was closed in 2011 for much-needed renov-
ation. Work on a spanking new National Museum is scheduled to end by 2018, but this is
optimistic.
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Wilsonova
The southern end of Václavské náměstí displays some of the worst blight that Communist
planners inflicted on Prague: above all, the six-lane highway that now separates Nové Město
from the residential suburb of Vinohrady to the east and south, and effectively cuts off the
NárodnímuzeumfromVáclavskénáměstí.PreviouslyknownasVitěznéhoúnora(Victorious
FebruaryStreet)afterthe1948Communistcoup,theroadwasrenamed Wilsonova inhonour
of US President Woodrow Wilson (a personal friend of the Masaryk family), who effectively
gavethecountryitsindependencefromAustria-Hungaryin1918bybackingtheproposalfor
aseparateCzechoslovakstate.Variousideashavebeenputforwardovertheyearstoeasethe
crush of cars, lorries and tourist coaches (tunnels, detours) but nothing has ever been imple-
mented and the traffic situation in this part of Prague remains as bad as ever.
Národní muzeum - nová budova (National Museum - new building)
Vinohradská 1 • Daily 10am-6pm • 110Kč • 224 497 111, nm.cz • Metro Muzeum
The former Prague Stock Exchange , alongside the grand Národní museum building, only
completed in the 1930s but rendered entirely redundant by the 1948 Communist coup, is
probablythemostfamousvictimofpostwar“reconstruction”.ThearchitectKarelPragerwas
given the task of designing a new “socialist” Federal Assembly building on the same site,
without destroying the old bourse: he opted for a supremely unappealing bronze-tinted plate-
glassstructure,supportedbyconcretestiltsandsittinguncomfortablyontopofitsdiminutive
predecessor.Afterthebreak-upofCzechoslovakiathebuildinghostedRadioFreeEuropebe-
fore being turned over to the National Museum , which uses it for temporary exhibitions .
Státní opera
Wilsonova 4 • 224 901 448, narodni-divadlo.cz • Metro Muzeum