National Technical Museum
The National Technical Museum is situated in Prague’s Letná district, several hundreds of metres from Letenské Gardens. At present, it is considered the largest Czech institution with collections of many technical disciplines, natural and exact sciences and industry. There are in total 14 permanent exhibitions (Architecture, Merkur Playroom, Chemistry Around Us, InterCamera, Measurement of Time, Printing, Technology in the Home, Technology in Toys and Television Studio) and a great number of short-term exhibits.
There are limited parking options in the area; therefore, it is best to leave your car in the paid car park right in front of the building of the National Technical Theatre.
Useful information for visitors
Public transport connections
Nábřeží Kapitána Jaroše tram stop
Opening hours and admission
For up-to-date information about the admission fees and opening hours of the National Technical Museum, visit the official website.
Interesting facts about National Technical Museum
The museum was founded in 1908 and the first exhibition was opened two years later in the Schwarzenberg Palace in the Hradčanské Square. However, the number of collections grew considerably, so it was necessary to build a new building. Its construction took place between 1938 and 1941 and was designed by architect Milan Babuška. However, immediately after its completion, it was taken over by the occupation administration during WWII. After the war, the National Technical Museum used only one-third of the building and it wasn’t until after the Velvet Revolution that the museum acquired the whole building. The subsequent reconstruction was delayed due to a flood and was finished after 75 years in 2013.
The National Technical Museum in Prague displays more than 60,000 items, 135,000 archival records and a quarter of a million books on the development of science and technology in the Czech Republic. There are a number of interesting exhibits, such as the first Czechoslovak car dating back to 1889 and the 1911 Kašpar JK plane, which was used for the first long-distance flight in the history of Czech aviation. The museum also houses a functional television studio and models of an ore and a coal mine dating back to the 1950s. Some of the exhibits are interactive – for example, the Top Secret travelling exhibition, which is dedicated to spy techniques and where visitors can try out the principles of ballistics and document coding.
