National Museum – Main Building

The name National Museum is most often used for its main building that has been a dominant feature of the upper part of the Wenceslas Square already since 1891. However, the name applies to the whole institution comprising around one dozen of buildings located in and out of Prague.

The objective of the National Museum is to further develop national identity within the Czech Republic, the European continent and the whole world. The main building, a beautiful Neo-Renaissance structure built according to the project of the architect Josef Schulz welcomes visitors to the museum in an impressive interior of the main hall with deep red and golden decor. The museum interior is decorated with paintings of famous castles and chateaux of the Czech Republic and busts of famous Czechs. Floors in the whole building are made from a patterned marble. The whole building is very monumental, which has partly affected its functionality. Impressive collections of the museum comprise the areas of botany, entomology, zoology, anthropology, archeology, mycology, paleontology and mineralogy and reach from natural sciences to individual social sciences. On the ground floor of the museum temporary exhibitions take place. There is also a library, a museum shop and a cozy cafe in the building.