The main building of the Museum of the Capital City of Prague is set for renovation

The Museum of the Capital City of Prague will close its main building in Florence for renovations starting June 15, 2020. The aim of the comprehensive refurbishment of the interiors is to modify the building to create a modern museum in a beautiful historic structure, complete with all that entails. The exhibition halls will be prepared for the installation of new exhibitions and displays utilizing contemporary technologies. Visitor facilities will meet current standards, including barrier-free access.
The main building of the Museum of the Capital City of Prague was constructed according to the design of architect Antonín Balšánek between 1896 and 1898; it was ceremonially opened to the public along with its exhibitions on September 27, 1900. In its 120 years of existence, it has not undergone any major or general renovation. Only partial adjustments, primarily of a technical nature, have taken place. Its overall general renovation has been planned since 2004, including first the completion and later the construction of a new museum building near the existing one. In 2012, only a comprehensive restoration of the façade was completed, including the restoration of decorative elements. After 120 years, a comprehensive renewal of the interiors is essential, including the technical and safety equipment, which is already at the end of its lifespan. Part of the interior reconstruction will include the installation of an elevator in the building, thereby making it fully barrier-free. New visitor facilities will be located and modified, including a ticket office, cloakroom, museum shop, and restrooms.
The building will close to the public on June 15, 2020, when museum staff will begin gradually packing all collection items from the exhibitions, which will be moved to storage. Our colleagues from the museum's expert departments will be responsible for packing and safely relocating approximately 578 collection items from our museum's historical collections and 744 archaeological exhibits.
At the same time, artistic and artistic-craft elements that are part of the museum building will be protected, such as the painted ceilings from the houses U Císařských in Wenceslas Square or from the Egg Market (now Rytierská Street) or from the Cyriak Monastery in the Old Town. We expect that the actual reconstruction will begin on September 1, 2020, and will last for two years. The main building is set to reopen to the public in the autumn of 2022.
The investment project for the renovation of the interiors of the main building will be carried out according to the architectural design by the SGLPROJEKT studio under the supervision of heritage conservation workers, as the building is listed as a cultural monument. The implementation will be entrusted to a company that will be selected in an ongoing competition according to public procurement law. A team of museum employees and external collaborators will oversee this demanding implementation.
We will open the reconstructed building with a major unique exhibition of the unfolded Langweil Model of Prague, utilizing modern audiovisual technologies and interactive elements. Results of a research project focused on using the Langweil Model of Prague in education, which began this year, will also be presented. This model is a global unique, and it is also undoubtedly the most famous exhibit displayed in our main building. The opportunity to see it in its unfolded form occurs only once every few decades. Interestingly, the Langweil Model of Prague will not leave the building even during the renovation. A special cover, a kind of sarcophagus, will be made for it to prevent damage. At the same time, other models of Prague will also be presented—from historical to contemporary. New exhibitions on the history of Prague, which we are already preparing, will then be gradually opened.
“The reconstruction of the interiors of the main building will undoubtedly be challenging. However, I believe that thanks to it, we will manage to restore the original shine of this beautiful neo-Renaissance building, which it has gradually lost over the years. Personally, I will be pleased that we will join the ranks of historically reconstructed museum buildings in Prague in recent years,” adds the director of the Museum of the Capital City of Prague, PhDr. Zuzana Strnadová.

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