National Technical Museum

This big museum is in Prague.

It keeps many old tools and machines. You can see old planes there.

It even has a room for trains. This room has about 100 train cars. The museum has many books too. It also has many old cars. One car belonged to a president. You can learn how things were made. It is a great place to visit.

The National Technical Museum is in Prague.

It is a very big place. It keeps tools and machines from the past. The museum started in 1908. It moved to its current home in 1941.

You can see many old planes there. One plane belonged to Jan Kašpar. He used it for his first flight in 1911. The museum also has a Railway Museum. This room has about 100 railway vehicles. You can see old cars, too. One car was driven by President Masaryk. It is a precious Czech car. The museum has many books. It also has huge archives. These archives hold 250,000 books. There are also 3,500 meters of shelf space for papers. Some art is here, too. You can see paintings about science. These paintings go from the 1600s to the 1900s. The museum has many parts. Some parts show how things are made. This helps us learn about history.

The National Technical Museum is a very big place in Prague. It helps save the history of how people use tools and machines. This museum is the largest group for this work in the Czech Republic.

It holds many items that show how technology changes. Many people visit to see these old inventions. It is a special place to learn about the past.

The museum works by keeping many different things in its care. It has large exhibits for about 15% of its total items.

It also has a huge library with 250,000 books. The museum keeps 3,500 linear shelf meters of old papers and files. These archives help experts study history. It even has a Railway Museum with about 100 railway vehicles.

This museum has a long history that started a long time ago. It began in 1908. Before that, parts of the collection came from an engineering school from 1717. Vojtěch Náprstek also started a museum in 1874. The museum moved to its current home in 1941.

It sits right next to Letná Park. The building was designed by an architect named Milan Babuška.

There are many famous things to see inside the walls. You can see the Mercedes-Benz W154 from 1939. This car belonged to Rudolf Caracciola.

There is also a Tatra 80 from 1935. This was the car for President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. One very special plane belonged to Jan Kašpar. He used it for his first flight in 1911.

The museum is like a time machine for science and art. You can see paintings from the 1600s to the 1900s. These artworks show themes of industry and science.

Some rooms show how motorcycles and lights are made. Other rooms show models of buildings. This helps us see how the world was built. It connects the tools we use today to the past.

The National Technical Museum, or NTM, is a major institution in Prague. It is the largest center for preserving technology in the Czech Republic. This museum protects history through artifacts and information. It helps us understand how machines and tools have changed over time. The NTM is important because it keeps our scientific heritage safe.

The museum operates through several different methods of preservation. It maintains large exhibits for roughly 15% of its total collection. These exhibits allow the public to see history in person. The rest of the collection is kept in specialized storage. The museum manages massive archives for research. These archives include 3,500 linear shelf meters of archival material. It also holds a library with about 250,000 books.

Visitors can explore many distinct types of galleries. In 1995, the museum opened three specific areas. The Industrial Design gallery shows how things like motorcycles are made. It also features early light fittings and manufacturing processes. The Single Building Gallery hosts quarterly exhibitions. These shows feature models and designs of important buildings. The Fine Arts gallery displays paintings and sculptures. These works date from the 17th to the 20th century. They focus on subjects like industry and science.

The museum has a long and complex history. Its collections began with a professional engineering school from 1717. Later, the Prague Polytechnical Institute was founded in 1806. In 1874, Vojtěch Náprstek founded the Czech industrial museum. The modern museum was officially founded in 1908. It opened to the public in 1910 at the Schwarzenberg Palace. In 1918, it became the Czechoslovak Technical Museum. The museum moved to its current location near Letná Park in 1941.

The current building is a significant piece of architecture. Milan Babuška designed the structure. He won an architectural competition to create it. The building uses a style called Functionalism. The collection moved out during the Nazi occupation. It was gradually returned to the building over time. The museum fully occupied the main building in the 1990s. The museum also underwent extensive renovations from 2006 to 2011.

There are several notable and precious items in the collection. The Mercedes-Benz W154 from 1939 is the most valuable exhibit. This car belonged to Rudolf Caracciola. The Tatra 80 from 1935 is a very important Czech car. It was used by President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. Aviation history is also well represented. Jan Kašpar donated the aircraft from his first flight in 1911.

The museum also has a Railway Museum. This section contains about 100 different railway vehicles.

Preserving such a large collection can be difficult. In 2002, the European floods caused serious problems. The floods damaged about 200 cubic metres of documents. This damage happened in a location separate from the main building. Experts worked very hard to fix the loss. They spent many years drying and restoring the materials. This work continued until 2013. This shows how much effort goes into protecting our shared history.