The City of Prague Museum

Built in the late 18^th century, the museum's main building lies almost in the very heart of Prague, just a short distance from Old Town. The City of Prague Museum's depository holds a treasure trove of collected items documenting the history of the capital city. Today, its collections boast over one million individual exhibit items from the fields of history, art, and archaeology.

What you will see at the museum

You can look forward to a number of permanent exhibits. Prague in Prehistory is an interesting exhibit, presenting the history of settled areas, some of which are over two thousand years old. Medieval Prague, on the other hand, will teach you about the origins of Prague Castle, Vyšehrad, and the areas surrounding Prague of that time, like the Břevnov Monastery, which once lay far outside the city borders. Another highly popular exhibit is Baroque Prague. Here, you will see a wide range of artistic gems and items documenting the lives of the residents of baroque Prague, all in one place.
 
Archaeological artefacts, obtained primarily from the museum's own archaeological surveys, make up the largest museum collection in terms of quantity. Other extensive and marvellous collections include the collections for the applied arts and graphics, of which the most valuable part is made up of vedute, i.e. views of Prague, its districts, city squares, individual streets, important buildings, or the emerging suburban villages outside of the former baroque city fortifications. The collection thus documents the transformations of Prague and its surroundings from the end of the 15^th century through the 20^th century, in which the largest collection of vedute are from the 19^th century. Of the historical collections, one of the richest in terms of quantity is the collection of printed media that amasses primarily flyers, public notices, posters, advertising brochures, holy cards, and other printed materials of various types.

The Langweil model of Prague

One of the museum's main draws is the hand-made model of the city, crafted in 1826–1834 from cardboard by employee of the Klementinum University Library, Antonín Langweil. Over two thousand buildings are captured in this colourful model at a scale of 1:480, featuring all decorative elements of the buildings' façades and details of the courtyards, gardens, and agricultural buildings inside the residential blocks. For many buildings that did not survive the test of time or succumbed to new construction, Langweil's model of Prague is the only witness of their former appearance. The model takes up several square metres, and the artist spent almost eleven years building it.

Visit the museum's other branches too

The City of Prague Museum manages more than just the collections held in its main building. Museum branches can be found all across the city. A tour of the Podskalí Custom House is very interesting—located just a short distance from Vyšehrad by the Vltava River. This used to be the place where tariffs on the lumber that was transported along the Vltava to Prague from as far away as the forests of Šumava were collected. You should also not miss out on visiting the other buildings that fall under the Museum's administration: the Petřín lookout tower, Powder Tower, or the Old Town and Lesser Town bridge tower. All of the towers and lookout points boast gorgeous views of the entire city as well as the Vltava River, which flows through the city centre. And if you are a fan of modern architecture, do not leave out the two villas that the museum manages: Villa Müller and Villa Rothmayer. These are located in the residential quarter not far from Prague Castle.