National Museum
Neo-Renaissance museum crowning Wenceslas Square, with history, natural science and mineral halls.
The National Museum is the oldest and largest museum institution in the Czech lands, founded in 1818 by a circle of patriotic aristocrats and scholars. Its Historical Building, designed by Josef Schulz and completed in 1891, closes the head of Wenceslas Square with a monumental neo-Renaissance facade, a domed centrepiece and a grand ceremonial staircase. The building was declared a national cultural monument in 1962 and carries visible scars from the Warsaw Pact invasion of 1968, when it was struck by gunfire.
After a seven-year reconstruction the Historical Building reopened on 28 October 2018, the centenary of Czechoslovak independence, and in 2019 an underground corridor connected it to the adjoining New Building, the former Federal Assembly. Permanent displays now cover the history of the Czech lands, prehistoric life, the natural world and a celebrated suite of mineral halls, while the Pantheon honours leading figures of Czech culture. The wider institution also runs the Náprstek Museum, the Czech Museum of Music and other branches across Prague.
Highlights
- Monumental neo-Renaissance facade and dome above Wenceslas Square
- Pantheon with busts and statues of Czech cultural figures
- Whale skeleton and some 1,500 objects in The Miracles of Evolution
- Halls of Minerals, with meteorites and fluorescent specimens
![[King Thibaw Min's Throne Room - Mandalay]title QS:P1476,en:"[King Thibaw Min's Throne Room - Mandalay]"label QS:Len,"[King Thibaw Min's Throne Room - Mandalay]"](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/Felice_Beato_%28British%2C_born_Italy_-_%28King_Thibaw_Min%27s_Throne_Room_-_Mandalay%29_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/500px-Felice_Beato_%28British%2C_born_Italy_-_%28King_Thibaw_Min%27s_Throne_Room_-_Mandalay%29_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
