Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TOP SIGHTS
NATIONAL MUSEUM
OFFLINE MAP
Looming above Wenceslas Square is the neo-Renaissance bulk of the National
Museum, designed in the 1880s by Josef Schulz as an architectural symbol of
the Czech National Revival. Its magnificent interior is a shrine to the cultural, in-
tellectual and scientific history of the Czech Republic.
History
Completed in 1891, the imposing facade of the National Museum dominates the
southern end of Wenceslas Square, and has played a part in many of the historical
events that happened here. The building was occupied by the Nazis during WWII, and
was damaged by a bomb on 7 May 1945, allegedly dropped by the last enemy plane
to fly over the city during the German withdrawal. In 1968, invading Warsaw Pact
troops apparently mistook the museum for the former National Assembly or the radio
station, and raked it with gunfire; the light-coloured areas on the facade are patched-
up bullet holes. And in January 1969 the student Jan Palach set himself on fire here in
protest at the Warsaw Pact invasion - you'll find a cross-shaped
memorial
set into
the pavement, to the left of the fountain in front of the museum, that marks the spot
where he fell.
Main Building
The museum's main building is closed until 2015 for a major overhaul that will create
extended exhibition spaces, covered courtyards and a museum shop and cafe. The
marbled splendour of the interior, which has appeared in several Hollywood films in-
cluding
Mission Impossible
with Tom Cruise,
From Hell
starring Johnny Depp, and
Casino Royale
with Daniel Craig, will remain unchanged. The opulent
main stair-
case
is an extravaganza of polished limestone and serpentine, lined with paintings of
Bohemian castles and medallions of kings and emperors. The domed
pantheon
,
with four huge lunette paintings of (strangely womanless) Czech legend and history
by František Ženíšek and Václav Brožík, houses bronze busts and statues of the great
and the good of Czech art and science.
New Building