National Museum closes for repair

The main National Museum building that dominates Wenceslas Square is closing its doors July 7 for a major renovation project that will take four years to complete.

The removal of exhibits from the 110-year-old facility by museum staff has already been underway since December. Once the building is closed, they will begin to disassemble the last remaining exhibition inside, "Ancient Czech Legends."

Construction is then due to begin in December, with the renovated museum scheduled to re-open in June 2015.

"The aim of this demanding reconstruction project is to save such significant national cultural heritage and to transform it into a modern museum space," museum officials said on the museum's website, Nm.cz.

Built in the late 1880s, the museum did not actually open to the public until 1901, after significant teething problems. The building was significantly damaged by an air raid during World War II and by machine-gun fire during the Warsaw Pact invasion of 1968.

Although described by its director as having a shortage of space as early as 1904, the building has never been renovated outside of wartime repairs, and is today in a state that museum officials acknowledge as "dilapidated."

The extension of the existing building and the addition of a new wing will see the museum nearly double in size to 11,300 square meters of exhibition space.

"This means visitors will have the opportunity to admire many unique collection items hidden in the depository today," museum officials said.

The range of visitor facilities is also to be expanded, with new study areas, a children's corner, an interactive learning center, a café, a gift shop and storage space for strollers all part of the plans.

A glass-roofed courtyard is also being developed to house large-scale exhibits like statues and monuments.

The project is being managed by a consortium known as Sdružení Národní Muzeum, which is made up of Chief Architect Zdeněk Žilka and firms VPÚ DECO Praha and SUDOP Praha.

The other branches of the National Museum, including the newer, adjacent exhibition building on Vinohradská in the former Czechoslovak Federal Assembly building, will remain open during the works.

Bill Lehane can be reached at
blehane@praguepost.com