A mass raised on columns
1960s brutalism above an older stock exchange.
The National Museum's second building in Prague, standing directly beside the historic one at the top of Wenceslas Square, hosting the major temporary exhibitions and parts of the permanent collection. The building's history explains its odd form. It was built in the 1960s as the seat of the Czechoslovak federal parliament: a modern mass of glass and steel raised on columns above an older stock exchange building, in the brutalist manner then prevailing. After 1989 it housed Radio Free Europe for some years, then passed to the National Museum in 2009 and was restored. The contrast with its neoclassical neighbour of 1891 is stark and today deliberate: two adjoining buildings representing two orders and two visions of the state, joined by an underground passage dug during the restoration. The displays change considerably — check the programme before going.
1960s brutalism above an older stock exchange.
It occupied the building for years after 1989.
The contrast with the 1891 neoclassical neighbour is now deliberate.
The top of Wenceslas Square, beside the historic building
National Museum in PragueThe vast building closing the top of Wenceslas Square is the Czech National Muse2 min walk
Statue of St. WenceslausAt the head of Wenceslas Square, directly in front of the National Museum, St We2 min walk
Cold War Museum, Hotel JaltaA secret nuclear shelter beneath the Hotel Jalta on Wenceslas Square, opened to 4 min walk
Wenceslas SquareWenceslas Square is not a square in the usual sense but a broad boulevard some 76 min walk
Jubilee SynagogueThe Jubilee Synagogue — also called the Jerusalem Synagogue, after the street it7 min walkBecause Wenceslas Square is Prague's central symbolic space, and placing the federal parliament on it was a deliberate political decision after the state was reorganised as a federation in 1968. The irony is that the building was completed in the same years the Prague Spring was crushed, so it became a symbol of an authority that did not represent those who placed it there. In November 1989 the square before it filled with demonstrators.
The 1891 neoclassical building is the original National Museum, reopened in 2018 after a seven-year restoration. It holds the natural history collections — minerals, fossils and mounted animals — along with the Czech history halls and the Pantheon. Its central marble staircase and dome are among the finest interiors in Prague. Allow three hours for both buildings together.
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