Musea in Praag

MUSEUMS

The Jewish Museum - The Jewish Museum is the largest and most authentic of its kind in Central Europe, with one of the most extensive collections of Judaic art in the world. Situated in the old Jewish Quarter, exhibitions are spread over a variety of buildings and synagogues, including the Maisel, Spanish, Klausen and Pinkas Synagogues, the Ceremonial Hall, the Old Jewish Cemetery, the Robert Guttmann Gallery and the Education and Culture Centre. The origins of the collection are astonishing in their atrociousness. Objects from 153 Jewish communities throughout Bohemia and Moravia were brought to Prague by the Nazis in 1942, to be used in a planned 'museum of an extinct people' after their extermination programme was complete. The Pinkas Synagogue was turned into a Jewish memorial after the Second World War and its walls are covered with the names of the Czech victims, the communities they belonged to and the camps in which they perished. The Old Jewish Cemetery is a significant sight with over 12,000 tombstones visible, but the number of people buried here is much greater due to the earth layering system carried out to create space. The oldest tombstone dates back to 1439. Together with the Old-New Synagogue, the oldest surviving example of the medieval twin nave style, the cemetery is one of the most important historic sites in the Jewish Quarter.

Address: U Staré školy 1
E-mail: office@jewishmuseum.cz
Website: www.jewishmuseum.cz
Opening time: Daily except Saturday from 9am to 6pm (April to October), 9am to 4.30pm (November to March). Jewish Cemetery opens Tuesday to Thursday, 9am to 1pm.
Admission: 300Kc (adults), 200Kc (children 6-15)

Museum of Communism - Ironically located next door to a casino and above a McDonald's, the Museum of Communism is dedicated to presenting an account of the post World War II Communist regime in Czechoslovakia and Prague in particular. It offers an eye-opening look at life behind the Iron Curtain and leads visitors through the life of the Czech people during the times of the Soviet Union. With genuine artefacts on display, informative text, multimedia presentations and even a reconstructed classroom, the museum makes sure the memory is kept alive of what it brands 'Communism - the Dream, the Reality, and the Nightmare'.

Address: Na Prikope 10
E-mail: muzeum@muzeumkomunismu.cz
Website: www.muzeumkomunismu.cz
Opening time: Daily from 9am to 9pm including holidays, except 24 December
Admission: Adults: CZK180; Concessions available.

Franz Kafka Musuem - One of Prague's most famous citizens, renowned author Franz Kafka was born in the city in 1883 in a house on the Old Town Square, next to the Church of St Nicholas. That house now houses a museum devoted to the author, containing original manuscripts, photos and diaries, and delves in depth into Prague's influence on the man and his works like The Metamorphosis and The Trial. There are 3D installations and audiovisual exhibitions, as well as detailed biographical information on Kafka himself.

Address: Hergetova Cihelna, Malá Strana
Website: www.kafkamuseum.cz
Opening time: Daily 10am-6pm.
Admission: Kc120 adults, Kc60 students

The National Museum - The National Museum is the largest museum in the Czech Republic. As the central state museum with collecting, scientific, educational and methodological functions it seeks to enhance the sense of national identity and awareness of being part of the whole framework of European and world community and culture. It is a polythematic institution, which comprises a large number of scientific disciplines and areas of collecting ranging from natural sciences to specialised fields of social sciences.

Address: Václavské námÄ›stí 68, Prague
Website: www.nm.cz

Mucha Museum - The world´s first Mucha Museum, dedicated to the life and work of the world-acclaimed Czech ART NOUVEAU artist Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939), is housed in the Baroque Kaunický Palace in the very heart of Prague.

A selection of over 100 exhibits comprising paintings, photographs, charcoal drawings, pastels, lithographs and personal memorabilia provides a privileged view into the universe of the artist who is most widely known for the posters he executed for Sarah Bernhardt in the fashionable world of fin-de-siècle Paris.

Opening Time: daily 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Address: Kaunický palác, Panská 7, 110 00 Prague 1
E-mail: shop@mucha.cz
Website: www.kafkamuseum.cz