Thanks to the country's vast cultural riches, there are a remarkable number of museums and galleries in the Czech Republic – more than 700 nationwide.
National Museum in Prague (Národní muzeum v Praze)
The largest museum in the Czech Republic. It is devoted to a great number of fields of research from natural to specialized social sciences. It consists of five specialized departments: Natural History Museum, Historical Museum, National Museum Library, Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures and Czech Music Museum.
http://www.nm.cz/
National Gallery (Národní galerie)
National Gallery in Prague manages abundant collections of both Czech and foreign works of art. The following sites are open to the public:
Convent of St. Agnes of Bohemia (Klášter sv. Anežky České) – Collection of old art (Medieval Art of Bohemia and Central Europe)
St George's Convent (Klášter sv. Jiří) – Collection of old art (Rudolphine art, Baroque art)
Kinský Palace (Palác Kinských) – Exhibition of Czech landscape painting of 17th to 20th century
Sternberg Palace (Šternberský palác) – European Art from the Classical Era to the Close of Baroque
Veletržní Palace (Veletržní palác) – Graphic art of 19th-21st century
Prague Castle Riding Scholl (Jízdárna Pražského hradu), Wallenstein Riding School (Valdštejnská jízdárna) – exhibition spaces
House at the Black Madonna (Dům U černé matky Boží)– Museum of Czech Cubism
Zbraslav Chateau – Collection of Asian Art
www.ngprague.cz
The Moravian Gallery in Brno (Moravská galerie v Brně)
The Moravian Gallery in Brno is the second largest museum in the Czech Republic and lays claim to an exceptionally extensive collection. As the only institution in the country focused on visual culture, the museum presents paintings, drawings, graphic art and sculptures dating from antiquity right up to the modern age, as well as photography, applied art, graphic design and architecture.
Brno’s Moravian Gallery was founded in 1961, however its roots go back to 1817, when the František Museum was established. The gallery sits on five architechturally remarkable buidlings: the Místodržitelský palace, Pražák’s palace, the Museum of Industrial Art, the home of Josef Hoffmann in Brtnice u Jihlavy and the Jurkovič vila. The museum plays host to permanant exhibitions as well as to limited exhibits. The best known event hosted at the Moravian Gallery in Brno is the International Bienal of Graphic Design, which has been organized every year since 1963. Adress: Husova 18, 662 26 Brno, tel.: +420 532 169 111, fax: +420 532 169 181.
www.moravska-galerie.cz
National Technical Museum in Prague (Národní technické muzeum v Praze)
Focuses on the history of science and technology. Its exhibits include such unique items such as the 16th-century astronomical instruments Tycho de Brahe used to work with, or the first Czechoslovak automobile. Permanent exhibitions deal with the measuring of time, transport, technologies of film and photography, acoustics and astronomy.
Address: Kostelní 42, 170 78 Prague 7, Tel.: 220 399 111, Fax: 220 399 200, e-mail: info@ntm.cz
Due to the reconstruction the Museum is closed from September, 2006. The plan is to re-open the museum to mark the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of its establishment, which the museum will celebrate in July 2008.
Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague (Uměleckoprůmyslové muzeum v Praze)
Collects, processes and preserves the past and the present of art handicraft, applied art and design. Permanent exhibitions include fashion, glass, ceramics, applied graphics and photography.
http://www.upm.cz
City Gallery Prague (Galerie hlavního města Prahy)
The gallery, which is focused on Czech 20th century art, displays its collections at several sites:
Golden Ring House (Dům U Zlatého prstenu) – Czech 20th-century art. Exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. Address: Týnská 6, Prague 1
Stone Bell House (Dům U Kamenného zvonu) – Exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. Address: Staroměstské nám. 13, Prague 1
Old Town Hall (Staroměstská radnice) – Exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. Address: Staroměstské nám. 1, Prague 1
Bílek Villa– František Bílek's studio and works. Address: Mickiewiczova 1, Prague 6 – Hradčany
František Bílek's House in Chýnov (Dům Františka Bílka v Chýnově) – František Bílek's studio and works. Address: Údolní 133, 391 55 Chýnov u Tábora
Municipal Library (Městská knihovna) – Exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. Address: Mariánské nám. 1 (entrance from Valentinská street), Prague 1
Troja Chateau (Trojský zámek) – New permanent exhibition under construction. Address: U Trojského zámku 1,
Prague 7
www.ghmp.cz
Czech Museum of Fine Art in Prague (České muzeum výtvarných umění v Praze)
The museum focuses mainly on the development of Czech 20th-century art. Nowadays, the premises of the former Jesuit College in Kutná Hora – to be opened in 2007 – are being re-adapted for the museum's purposes. The existing lack of space needed for a comprehensive understanding of the collections has been solved by means of both small- and large-scale projects and collection exhibition series either in the museum's own exhibition rooms on Husova street or Carolinum, or in rooms provided by some regional or international institutions. Address: Husova 19-21, 110 01 Prague 1, Tel.: +420- 222 220 218, Fax: +420- 222 221 190, e-mail: muzeum@cmvu.cz , www.cmvu.cz
Jewish Museum (Židovské muzeum)
The Jewish Museum owns one of the largest collection of Jewish artifacts in the world, containing about 40,000 collection items and 100,000 books. It is quite unique not only in terms of the quantity of collection items but, primarily, due to the fact that they all come from a single self-contained area – Bohemia and Moravia. The collection thus provides a comprehensive picture of the life and history of the Jewish in the region. The Jewish Museum administers the following sites: Maisel Synagogue, Spanish Synagogue, Old Jewish Cemetery, Klaus Synagogue, Ceremonial Hall (Prague Burial Society building), Robert Guttmann Gallery, and Education and Culture Center.
www.jewishmuseum.cz