Like all major European capitals, Prague has many museums. Although the Czech capital doesn’t play in the same league as Paris or London, you’ll still find plenty to do! They are not listed below, but I highly recommend the Music Museum (in a former church) and the Army Museum (fantastic building and collections, and free!)
I’ve selected 6 very interesting museums, the ones you really shouldn’t miss.
In almost 15 years here, I’ve visited almost every museum in Prague. In this article, you’ll find the museums I’ve enjoyed the most, and the ones my Prague friends and acquaintances often visit.
Tip: if you’re planning to visit more than one museum, it’s worth buying the Prague CoolPass!
The 2 museums not to visit in Prague
Avoid at all costs the Museum of Torture (next to Charles Bridge) or the Museum of Sex Machines (next to Old Town Square), both of which are expensive tourist attractions (in the same vein, there’s also the KGB Museum). You’ll notice that these museums are strategically located to attract visitors who would otherwise never have thought of setting foot here! A former French president even landed in the Chocolate Museum… But believe me, there’s much more to visit in Prague!
Likewise, most tourists waste precious time visiting the Castle and surrounding museums. It’s true that climbing up to the Castle is essential, but it’s better to cut the visit short, as there are often better things to do (including strolling around to feast your eyes on such varied architecture ).
The National Museum of Technology
Suspended planes that you can admire from the corridors. But you can also admire trains, cars (those of the first and last Czechoslovak presidents, Masaryk and Havel), motorcycles and bicycles. From the outset, one of the museum’s missions has been to safeguard concrete examples of technical development for future generations.
Located behind the superb Letná Park, the National Museum of Technology was founded in 1908. Originally housed in the Schwarzenberg Palace at Prague Castle until the Second World War, it is now housed in a functionalist building erected in 1938 on Letná Hill. The construction allows objects weighing several tons to be displayed on the upper floors (seven levels, three of which are underground). The building was designed with this in mind.
Please note: it’s a great place to live in this district (in one of the superb Prague Letna Apartments, for example – very good feedback from blog readers!)
The museum’s collections are extremely rich, and include some superb aircraft.
Among the latest additions to the museum is an Enyaq electric car, the first from Škoda.
Incredible : you’ll also see a piece of film stock that belonged to the Frenchman Charles-Émile Reynaud, the first film to exist, even before the Lumière brothers!
A variety of themes, with exhibits on architecture, astronomy, photography, printing, chemistry, chronometry, television and contact lenses (the latter are a Czech invention, and you’ll see the contact lens machine invented by Otto Wichterle).
All in all, 14,000 m2, 14 permanent and temporary exhibitions and 76,000 objects, of which only 10% are actually on display. A museum that’s a must-see in Prague with kids !
And if you fancy a coffee on your way out, I recommend the super Café Letka, one of the Prague’s design cafés.
National Museum of Technology (Národní technické muzeum) – Kostelní 42
The Kampa Museum
By the river, on the romantic island of the same name, the Kampa Museum is a private foundation that exhibits modern and contemporary works that were censored under Communism and belonged to the Mládek couple.
The story of the founders: Meda was an art historian who, in the 50s, founded the first Czechoslovak publishing house in exile in Paris; she was also, and above all, a collector. Her husband Jan was an economist and one of the first governors of the IMF. Both were American residents, and in Washington they built up a collection of over a thousand works by Czech and Slovak artists.
A priceless collection bequeathed to the city of Prague after the Velvet Revolution.
Like me, you’ll have a great time at the Kampa Museum, where you won’t have to elbow your way through the collection of great 20th-century Central European artists, most of them Czech, such as František Kupka, Jiří Kolář and Otto Gutfreund.
Tip : The Kampa Museum, created in 2003, is housed in a magnificent building with a terrace ideal for photographing the Charles Bridge, and a pretty little bookshop.
The building is the former Sova mills (Sovovy mlýny), in front of which the babies of David Černý gambol on all fours, a ubiquitous artist who can sometimes be seen across the street in Kavárna Mlýnská.
Museum Kampa (Museum Kampa ) – U Sovových mlýnů 2
Palace of Fairs and Exhibitions
The interior hall is impressive, with its passageways and elevators. On four levels, you’ll find the great names of Czech and international modern art (Van Gogh, Klimt, Picasso) and an important French collection built up in the 1920s (Rodin, Delacroix, Renoir, Cézanne, Gauguin, Rousseau). The first floor features temporary exhibitions and more contemporary works, including large-scale installations.
The Palace of Fairs and Exhibitions is dedicated to modern and contemporary art collections.
The functionalist-style Veletržní palác is an imposing building, a huge rectangular block inaugurated to mark the 10th anniversary of the Czechoslovak Republic (1928) in the Holešovice district. Inspired by the German Bauhaus and Russian Constructivism, the building alone is worth a visit. The Palace of Fairs and Exhibitions inspired Le Corbusier and was created to support the economy of the new state, as well as housing Alfons Mucha’s Slavic Epic from its inception. Today, it exhibits part of the National Gallery «s collections. The National Gallery manages many of Prague’s most interesting museums, (list here).
Tip: permanent exhibitions are free for under-16s and half-price for under-26s!
The Palace of Fairs and Exhibitions is also a lively museum, open to the present with a café, concerts and performances. Check out their program to prepare for your visit. The Mama Shelter Prague, just 50 metres away, is always a popular choice for accommodation!
The Mucha Museum
The famous Czech poster artist and illustrator Alfons Mucha (1860-1939), a symbol of Art Nouveau, has his own museum in Prague. You’d probably recognize the Mucha style (softness, flamboyance, myths and symbols) without knowing the author, who had a twenty-year career in Paris.
The Mucha Museum focuses on this Parisian period (1887-1904). You’ll discover an important collection of posters, including the famous Sarah Bernhardt show posters.
The Mucha Museum is ideally located in the city center, just a few steps from Wenceslas Square.
It’s the best museum to visit if you’re not familiar with the artist and your stay is fairly short. The Mucha Museum store is also a great place to pick up a few souvenirs. And since Mucha was also a graphic designer, why not stay at the BoHo Prague Hotel, the city’s finest design hotel.
Mucha Museum (Muchovo muzeum) – Panská 7
Dox Centre for Contemporary Art
Once again, in the rapidly changing district of Holešovice, on the bend of the Vltava River, lies DOX. DOX is a private museum that is one of Prague’s leading contemporary art venues , and one that I like to visit for its iconoclastic exhibitions.
The architecture and design (which are also on show at DOX) will surprise you.
The museum is a renovated complex of 19th-century industrial buildings. You’ll be surprised to see a Zeppelin sitting on the roof of the museum, and you’re sure to see an interesting exhibition, not to mention the café with its terrace and the design-oriented store.
DOX Centre for Contemporary Art – Poupětova 1
The St Agnes Convent
I’m not a fan of Gothic art, but it can be fascinating when it’s explained in an educational way. This is the case at the St Agnes Convent which boasts one of the largest collections of Gothic art in Europe, and where I discovered a lot of fascinating things. What’s more, you won’t encounter many tourists in this exceptional building, which for a brief moment makes you forget Baroque Prague or Art Nouveau Prague. Indeed, in the 13th century, the convent built by Agnes of Bohemia was the most modern architectural building in Prague and the most beautiful of its time.
Today, it houses a department of the National Gallery, that of Gothic art.
History: St. Agnes Convent is considered Bohemia’s first Gothic building (1234). It is a former convent of Poor Clares founded in 1233 by Wenceslas I at the instigation of his sister Agnes, who was its first superior. Saint Agnes was a great spiritual figure of the 13th century, canonized in 1989. The convent, which served as a mausoleum for the Czech Přemyslid kings, is located in the north-east of the Old Town, close to the old Jewish quarter and the Hotel Residence Agnès, one of Prague’s finest hotels. After the nuns were expelled by Joseph II in 1782, the Convent of St. Agnes was put to various uses – eventually as a chicory factory – and it was only after the Velvet Revolution of 1989 that it was restored.
Convent of St. Agnes of Bohemia (Klášter sv. Anežky České) – Anežská 12