The reconstruction of the Army Museum Žižkov has become the Museum Achievement of the Year 2022

Prague – The museum event of the year 2022 was the reconstruction of the Army Museum Žižkov and its new exhibitions. The Military Historical Institute Prague (VHÚ) received first prize in the relevant category of the Gloria musaealis awards, which recognize the best performances of domestic museum workers and institutions in the past year. The museum at the foot of the Prague hill Vítkov reopened after a four-year reconstruction in the presence of war veterans and then-President Miloš Zeman last year on the eve of the holiday on October 28.

The jury of the competition stated that the museum's reconstruction "took place in a thoughtful harmony of construction modifications and the creation of seven exhibitions." According to the jury, the project also balanced traditional methods with modern elements.

Jiří Reichl from the VHÚ communication department stated that the jury appreciated the comprehensiveness of the reconstruction and that the exhibition spaces had been maximally expanded by converting the original storage rooms into exhibition space.

"After years of efforts to reconstruct the museum, this award is a great satisfaction. The combination of carrying out the building reconstruction with the creation of permanent exhibitions as part of one project proved to be very fortunate, and we were able to make all the exhibitions containing nearly three hundred showcases with over 7,000 exhibits accessible to visitors just eight months after taking over the reconstructed building," said VHÚ Director Aleš Knížek. He considers the rapid accessibility to be unique on a pan-European scale.

The reconstruction of the museum, which was built at the turn of the 20s and 30s of the last century, was originally estimated to cost about 724 million crowns. However, according to the findings of the Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ), additional work increased the cost by 192 million. Some of them, according to the NKÚ, stemmed from objective and unpredictable reasons, while additional work worth at least 28 million crowns arose from errors in the project documentation.

The museum now has a new entrance that leads beneath the original courtyard. In the basement, which has gained a glass ceiling, there is a reception area from where visitors can access the exhibitions or take an elevator to the café. Access to the museum will also be newly possible from the bike path from the rear of the building. It offers over 5,000 m² of exhibition space in total.

Museum awards were presented today at the Municipal House in Prague. The jury rated the project for the reconstruction of the Museum of Middle Pootaví with a new exhibition as the second best museum achievement. The third place went to the Memorial of National Literature for opening the Museum of Literature. As a new home for an institution with a seventy-year tradition, the museum opened in the fall in Prague's Bubenč and aims to be not only a home for the collections of the memorial but also a place for greater engagement with the public.

The Gloria musaealis award has three categories. In the category of Museum Exhibition of the Year 2022, the first prize was awarded to the Central Bohemian Museum in Roztoky near Prague for its permanent archaeology exhibition called Archevita: Following the Ages. The second place went to the staff of the Gallery of the Central Bohemian Region for the exhibition Destiny Preordained, which was dedicated to painters Jitka and Květ Válová. The jury awarded the third place to the City Museum of Horažďovice for its permanent exhibition "Mind and Hammer: Minerals, Mining, Gold, and Pearls of Upper Pootaví."

There is also a category for museum publications, in which the book Sacred Art in Unholy Times: Czech Sacred Art 1948–1989, published by the Museum of Art Olomouc, won first place. The second place was awarded to the Museum of Southeast Moravia in Zlín for the publication The Story of Vizovice Pastry, and the third place went to the Gallery of the Capital City of Prague for the book Ivan Meštrović (1883–1962): Sculptor and Citizen of the World, which accompanied an exhibition of this Croatian architect, sculptor, and writer.

Last year, the museum achievement was the Museum of Tatra Trucks, which was established in a reconstructed building of the former foundry of the automotive company in Kopřivnice. The competition aims to draw public attention to the best performances of museum institutions and their staff in creating exhibitions and displays or in the rescue and accessibility of cultural heritage sites or objects. This year, the organizers evaluated a record number of 121 submitted projects from 73 museums and galleries.