On the day of its 190 birthday all the exhibitions were made available to visitors for free and there was also a concert held in the Pantheon. The most important part of the celebration is the exhibition subtitled Two Hundred Years of Adventure, which is under preparation at the moment. The attractive titled exhibition will introduce the history of the Museum and of the places that are connected with its activity

The exhibition should be a kind of a representative cross section of museum’s exhibits. Part of the exhibition will also be an hour long montage from famous movie scenes that took place in the Museum. According to sources, The Museum should this year see one more interesting exhibition which will be related to another “number eight year” anniversary that is closely connected with the Museum. The exhibition shall be called …and the Tanks Arrived and it will describe the events of the August 1968 of which the National Museum building, that stands at the top of Wenceslas Square, was a silent witness.

Repairs are necessary

It is good manners to give presents to an honouree on the day of his/her birthday. These presents can have different forms and also valued are the practical ones like the one that the National Museum’s building desperately needs. Of course, we mean repair works and not only one but a whole series of repairs. Specialists are of the opinion that if the building doesn’t undergo renovation works soon, the damage can become irrecoverable.

The building of the National Museum has been through quite a lot during its long life. For example in the end of the Second World War when Prague was bombed by Americans, a bomb went off nearby the building. In the year sixty eight it became a target of machine rifles and machine guns’ bullets belonging to Russian occupying forces and to cap it all, a much overloaded arterial road was built close to the building.

At the moment all the indications are that the repairs should begin within three years time, which is in 2011. The building project sets the finishing date of repairs for 2015, so the National Museum should welcome its two hundred years anniversary in all its glory. According to some plans, the arterial road should be at this time already hidden underground, the Wenceslas Square itself should gain a completely new look and it would be possible for trams to drive around the Museum again.

Future look

The plan of diverting the arterial road was introduced by the Prague council already three years ago. The target is to connect Vinohradska road with Wenceslas Square, Museum and the pedestrian zone,” said Prague 1’s Councillor Filip Dvořák a few days ago. The capacity of the street would decrease from current 85.000 to 50.000 cars per day which would, according to some specialists, make the area more “human friendly”.

Specialists suggested two possible solutions of the arterial road problem. According to the first one, the road would lead behind the Museum and above the ground, the second one depends on the building of a tunnel. An underground variant with the underground road leading from I. P. Pavlova to the Main train station is also under consideration. "This should have a from of a tube or a collector that will be suspended and spring loaded to minimize vibration and noise, " said the spokesman of the Ministry of Transport Karel Hanzelka..

The renovation costs are estimated at 4.5 milliards czk, the costs of the tunnel construction shouldn’t, according to Hanzelka, exceed the sum of ten milliards crowns and all authorities should make contributions. According to the Ministry spokesman, the assumption is that the Ministry of Transport, namely the State fund of transport infrastructure, will contribute to the sum from four to eight milliards czk.

Even though the beginning of works is still far in the future, many exhibits are already being packed. It is because of the planed move to the nearby building that used to belong to the former Federal Assembly and by next year it should become a possession of the National Museum.

That means that the number of buildings managed by the National Museum will further increase. Currently the Museum has about fifty buildings, twenty of which serve as exhibitions places. This is a necessary number as the Museum currently owns about 20 million exhibits. It is a big difference compared to the first years when the Museum (at those times called Patriotic Museum) resided in the Sternberk Palace in Hradčany with only few hundred collection items!

Source: ČTK