The Museum of Applied Arts in Prague will reopen after refurbishment

Prague - Masterpieces from all fields of artistic craftsmanship, applied arts, and design, extraordinary for their execution or significance, form the first exhibition of the Museum of Decorative Arts after its renovation. The historical building was repaired for two years, will open on Wednesday, and will be accessible for free until Friday. Next year, visitors will see a major exhibition of photographs by Josef Koudelka, and from 2020, permanent exhibitions will be gradually prepared. With the renovation, the museum gained more space, which will be devoted, among other things, to children and educational programs.

The first exhibition is called Director's Choice - A Selection from the Collections and is supposed to showcase the museum's greatest treasures, which number half a million exhibits. The core is formed by a selection from the museum's director Helena Koenigsmarková. It is intended for a publication released by the London publisher Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers in a series that represents the collections of world museums from the perspective of their directors. UPM is the first Czech museum to appear in this edition.

"We chose this exhibition because of this offer. We built the entire thing on a cross-section of our collections from the Middle Ages to the present," the museum director told ČTK today. "Of course, it is challenging to make a selection of 38 objects for the book, let alone 300 exhibits for the exhibition. A lot of items that visitors know from previous exhibitions will appear here, but this time they are compiled together – the historical part is in contemporary display cases that bring together chronological sets, showing how the items were used and presented in their time," she described part of the exhibition.

The second of the two accessible halls with exhibits displays the "classics of Czech design" from the 20th century. These exhibits are again showcased in historical display cases, which, like all interiors, have been restored. Visitors will see a selection of clothing or toys complemented by the most famous photographs of František Drtikol. An educational hall adjoins these spaces.

After three days of free opening, the basic admission to the museum will cost 100 crowns. From November 18 to December 17, the museum will offer a range of activities under the name UPkemp - lectures, screenings, readings, and book launches, as well as a fashion show. Following the renovation, the museum library will also resume its activities, and there is a new café named Času dost and a museum shop. The museum now has access through the garden from Široká Street.

With the renovation, the museum gained almost 2200 m² for permanent exhibitions and over 600 m² for exhibitions, which is two and a half times more than it had until 2014. The repair was funded by the government’s Program for the Care of the National Cultural Heritage and cost 266 million crowns excluding VAT.