Dateline, July 8th, 2022

What a show!

That was the feeling I had when I walked away from the Národní Muzeum, or National Museum in Prague. A museum so magnificent that it’s architecture alone will mesmerize one’s mind. And the exhibits within stimulate the brain and stir the soul.

The museum is huge–so big that one could spend an entire day there. However, I only stayed long enough until my my mind’s appetite was sufficiently satiated. I didn’t want to experience cognitive overload and forget about some of the truly great things I saw this morning!

I circumnavigated the entire second floor of the main building, which covers the history of what present-day Czechia from it’s Slavic origins in the fifth century right up to the origin of Czechoslovakia’s independence in 1918. As you walk through the exhibits, you see everything, and the more you see the narrative of how this country was formed. Like a page-turning novel, there are many plot twists and tension builds. You see what others saw after the murderer of Duke Wenceslas, after the takeover of Czech lands by Austria-Hungary, and the massive buildup of industrial output and wealth inequality that precipitated World War I. As the exhibit reaches it’s close, there is a short film that briefly narrates Czechoslovakia’s involvement in that war–how they only fought because they wanted independence from Austria-Hungary (which, ironically, was exactly what the south Slavic people wanted as well). We also get a reminder that this was said to be the “war to end all wars,” and then the narrator ends not with a statement but with a question: “It was said that the 20th century would be better . . . was it?”

To find out, one has to walk over to the museum’s 20th century wing–yes, and entire wing dedicated to that one century. We see some of the same themes here that are also at the museum of communism, but we see more artifacts and a wider arrange of the art and culture from 20th century Czechoslovakia. Not only that, but there is also a magnificent movie display referred to as the “Time Elevator.” Perhaps it’s a shout out to Doctor Who fans? Anyhow, viewers sit in a large, 360 degree room, sit against the round wall, and look up to a 360 degree screen. The images and the sounds do a spectacular job of evoking the thoughts and feelings of the era. You feel the fear of the Nazi invasion, of the promise and pitfall of Prague spring, right up to the current controversies of modern-day Czech politics.

After the time elevator, you can see each and every decade laid out it in painstaking detail. Perhaps most shocking of all, the fact that the author is old enough to be a museum exhibit himself. I saw a room with a CRT computer monitor, CD-Rooms, VHS Tapes, and oh my god! It’s the 90s room!

On that note, I decided it was time to say farewell to the Národní Muzeum, but not goodbye. There is still so much left to explore, that I simply decided to save these exciting treats for another time.

With that, I stepped out of the museum and into Wenceslas Square to explore the rest of Prague, wondering what I would see and do next . . .