<Národní muzeum už připravuje expozice o přírodě>National Museum is already preparing exhibitions about nature</Národní muzeum už připravuje expozice o přírodě>

Prague - The National Museum is preparing its natural science exhibitions, which, along with the 20th-century exhibition and a section dedicated to children, will open in 2019. The museum's spokesperson Kristina Kvapilová informed ČTK about this today. The reconstructed museum will open its doors to visitors for the first time on October 28, 2018, on the occasion of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia and the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the National Museum. Visitors will be able to attend the Czechoslovak exhibition and other spaces in the Historical Building.

The general renovation of the National Museum began in 2015, but the old building had been closed for several years prior for preparations. Of the total costs of 2.34 billion crowns, the museum has so far invested over 600 million, said museum director Michal Lukeš in October.

Natural science topics in the new museum layout are divided into the Nature and Evolution routes, and there is also an experimental route called ExperiMus planned. The Historical and natural science themes will be interconnected by the Treasury and mint cabinet. Similarly, the topics of nature and history will be connected in the People route, which will present humanity from the perspectives of anthropology and archaeology.

Purely social science topics will then be presented on the History route, which will cover the development from the early Middle Ages to 1914 in the Historical Building and the 20th century in the New Building. The traditional location will be the Pantheon of the National Museum, while entirely new features will include a multimedia connection corridor and a Children's Museum in the New Building.

In the part of the natural science exhibitions describing evolution and titled From Water to Land, visitors will find themselves as if underwater. They will enter among freely "swimming" exhibits complemented by models on pedestals. Monumental aquariums will be prepared for the specimens. The focal point of the Mastering the Elements zone will be a whale - the symbol of the National Museum. Visitors will be able to admire it from the balcony above a row of display cases with exhibits of other mammals. The skeleton of a blue whale illuminated by a 3D assembly is expected to create an atmosphere in the entire room. The exhibition showcasing minerals from around the world will be set up in the original furnishings and adjustments, as well as in the uniquely preserved original installation from 1892.

After the architectural competition for the exhibition solutions in the Historical Building was canceled due to the incompatibility of the conditions of the Czech Chamber of Architects with the Public Procurement Act, the museum is gradually selecting architects for individual exhibitions, Kvapilová stated. For the natural sciences, they selected Daniel Kříž, Jan Albrecht, and Renata Slámková, who participated in the original architectural competition. The consultant for the architectural solution of the exhibitions and visitor operations is architect Josef Pleskot.