NTM: more than just trains, planes and automobiles

Given that Czechs have such a proud industrial tradition, it is hardly surprising that their national museum devoted to technology is among the finest that the country has to offer. Housed in an imposing functionalist building on Prague’s Letná Plain, it is home to examples of some of the Czech Republic’s greatest technological achievements in areas where it has traditionally been a major player, such as the automotive industry, architecture and astronomy.

Národní technické muzeum, Praha

“Because we’re a national museum, we promote the technologies that Czechs have the most to do with, so to speak,” says Olga Šámalová, head of the museum’s presentation and PR department. “That doesn’t mean we don’t have things from abroad, but as a national institution we focus as much as possible on items that were widely used or produced in our country.”

With a vast array of technological exhibits that are of huge historic importance to the Czech Republic — coupled with the obvious retro appeal of wonderfully preserved antique machinery — the National Technical Museum (NTM) has been a huge favorite since it was established over a hundred years ago. Consequently, it has been hugely missed while it has been closed over the past four years for extensive but unavoidable renovations.

“Nobody had invested or done anything with the building since 1948,”Šamálová says. “After being neglected for 60 years, everything needed to be fixed up and restored – from electrical wiring to water mains and sewerage piping.”

Now, after a massive overhaul costing in the region of Kč 350 million, the NTM is finally going to partially reopen with five permanent exhibitions dedicated to transport, photography, printing, astronomy, and architecture. Šamálová is confident that the long hiatus won’t have diminished the museum’s appeal. If anything, she thinks the new improved version will make it an even bigger attraction, due to its more modern, interactive displays.‘It’s practically impossible to find a little boy in Prague who does not know the Technical Museum.’

Národní technické muzeum, Praha

“In terms of marketing and awareness, it was probably not ideal to have to close the place down for four years,” she says. “But the museum has always been popular, even though the exhibits used to be a bit archaic. It appeals to an awful lot of people, particularly among the male population. It’s practically impossible to find a little boy in Prague who does not know the Technical Museum. A lot of boys have grown up and still love the place, so for these people the museum really deserved an overhaul.”

Besides the revamp in facilities, the NTM finally has exhibits that meet the expectations of 21^st-century visitors.  “The installations are now based on the needs of those who come to view them,” says museum director Karel Ksandr, who believes the somewhat “dry” presentations of the Socialist era are now a thing of the past. “We have dramaturgically arranged the individual expositions to ensure clarity and visitor interaction. Each of the exhibits also has its own story.” 

The new printing exhibit offers one fascinating narrative. Besides outlining the development of typography technologies, the printing machines on display are exhibited in a space designed to resemble the authentic atmosphere of an industrial printing office.

Národní technické muzeum, Praha

Equally engaging is the astronomy exhibit. As you would expect from a technical museum in the city that is strongly associated with Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe, there are plenty of antique charts and sextants similar to those used by the celebrated Rudolphine astrophysicists for their pioneering work.

The exhibition is chronologically arranged in an elliptical “orbit” that viewers can use to plot a course through all the main breakthroughs in astronomy, dating back to the early version of our 365-day calendar year, as employed by the ancient Egyptians. There are also some interactive recreations of old navigational devices, which give visitors an idea of the conditions that pioneering astronomers worked under.

As if this wasn’t enough to inspire any budding cosmologists, young (and old) visitors will surely get a kick out of being able to touch and feel a real 81-kilogram meteorite that fell to earth in Argentina.

Národní technické muzeum, Praha

Jewel in the crown

As was the case previously, however, the hugely impressive room with authentic steam engines and planes, not to mention vintage cars and motorbikes, is still the jewel in the museum’s crown. “The transport section has always been one of the ‘pearls’ of the NTM,” Ksandr says. “Visitors here will find many unique technology ‘firsts’ such as the oldest car used on the territory of the Czech Republic, the oldest Czech-made car, and so on.”

Besides displaying a number of important Czech technological artifacts, such as one of the world’s very first serially produced motorbikes from the Mladá Bolesav factory of Laurin & Klement (now Škoda Auto), this section also has plenty of exhibits that have a special resonance for most Czechs because of their historical value.

These include a beautifully preserved Tatra 80 vehicle owned by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first Czechoslovak president, and the Mercedes that was used to transport the SS General Karl Hermann Frank, who was infamous for his leading role in the Lidice and Ležáky massacres. The Tatra 87 of explorers Zikmund and Hanzelka, which occupies pride of place in the NTM, has been put on a cultural heritage list.

Other historical exhibits have far happier associations for many Czechs. Many of a certain age will fondly recall the feats of popular global explorers Miroslav Zikmund and Jiří Hanzelka, who traveled the world in a now legendary Tatra 87. This car has been deemed so important that it has been put on a cultural heritage list and occupies pride of place in the NTM’s stunning exhibit dedicated to the history of transport technology.