Prague National Museum – free entry

Hey. 3 months ago I moved to Prague. Because of work, blog, and other duties I didn’t have much time to explore Prague as much as I would like to.
On 28 October 2018 – the day of the 100th anniversary of the Czechoslovak Republic the historical building of the national museum in Prague was re-opened after long-term reconstructions. Museum introduced 2 exhibitions:
Czech-Slovak / Slovak-Czech Exhibition
 2 x 100 Exhibition

and you can read about each of them in the links above. I found both of the exhibitions very interesting – for me a Slovak girl living in the Czech Republic it was very fascinating to see/read about Czechoslovakian history.
What’s most important thought: In celebration of the re-opening of the building, the 100th anniversary of Czechoslovakia, 200 years of a national museum – well there is a lot to celebrate and the museum knows it. That’s why they offer

FREE ENTRY until the end of 2018!

I went to check this free entry museum on my own. As it’s free many visitors are interested, that means you have to expect horrible queues. I went to the museum on Monday morning – I thought people are at work, kids at school, it’s my day off so why not. They opened at 10 and my roommate who went to work that way send me a photo of how did current queue looked like. Not pretty:

(let me explain to you that this was all around the building)

so I decided to go there later on.

It was noon and when I arrived and the queue looked the same. I really didn’t want to wait that long so I went to check out some other beauties of Prague and returned 3 hours later. The queue was like only half of the morning’s one so I got into a line.

To my surprise, it was moving so fast!

8 minutes and I was in! So my advice – don’t get sickened by the long queues as I did – it’s not that bad how it looks like. (and it’s free so you can wait a while)

Once I got inside I was informed by a bodyguard where the cloakrooms were as bags and coats are not allowed inside the exhibitions. This is great as it was really warm inside and it felt great to walk around just in my sweater and with my phone only.

Everything was well-organized, with arrows and signs with a Czech and English description so it’s great for tourists.

(and there were a lot of them inside)

The Czechoslovakian exhibition contained short films, presentations, pictures, photographs, clothes, vehicles, furniture, utensils, statues, and literally anything you could think of. For tourist who doesn’t know much about Czechoslovakia, it’s great because it offers many description and historical explanation so you can learn a lot. But for someone like me, it was still very educational, but it was much more nostalgic.

Even though I was born shortly after the end of Czechoslovakia I recognized so many exhibits from my home when I was a kid – made me feel so old and I’m just 22.

For someone older, it must have been quite emotional. Here are a few photographs.

The rest of the museum was quite unique – more international. I understand that many foreigners might not be very interested in Czechoslovakian history. But the best exhibits of the museum must be more interesting for them. It was a mix of everything. Every exhibit was described in both Czech and English.

I really don’t want to spoil you anything but I’m gonna show you my favorite exhibit = Tsantsa – trophy human head.

Both exhibits were great – but I was more stunned by the whole building.

I was staring at the walls, ceiling, and wall art more than the exhibits themselves.

Looks great now.

While building it’s still under reconstruction so you might see some workers from time to time.

That’s also why there is no barrier-free access available.

If you’re visiting with kids there are some pros and cons for you.

Pro – you don’t have to wait in line/con you have to leave your stroller outside and carry your kid all the time.
I didn’t see any kid at the time when I was visiting thought.

If you happened to be in Prague till 31.12.2018 try to find some time and visit the historical building of the national museum. Queues might be discouraging but the 30-60 minutes you spend inside will make up for it.

It’s free it is educational and if you’re not into that kind of stuff it’s really pretty and peaceful inside.

Museum has a great location – right at the Vaclavske Namesti so even when you’re waiting in line you have spectacular views over the town square.

I’m surely gonna go again till the end of the year and you should too.

Thank you for your attention
xo Natalia