Art museums
National Gallery in Prague
Staroměstské náměstí 12, 110 15 Praha 1
www.ngprague.cz
The National Gallery in Prague, whose tradition goes back to 1796, is among the oldest world’s public collections of art. Six buildings, precious in terms of architecture, house masterpieces coming from the Central European Middle Ages period, and the masters’ extraordinary pieces of work, ranging from Rubens, Gauguin to Picasso and Asian arts besides creation by the key personalities of the Czech visual arts.
Aleš South Bohemian Gallery
Hluboká nad Vltavou 144, 373 41
www.ajg.cz
Aleš South Bohemian Gallery has been located in the Riding Hall of the neo-Gothic Hluboká nad Vltavou chateau since 1956. Its collections include more than 19,000 works throughout the history of art. The basis is Gothic art from the 13th to the 16th century from southern Bohemia. Another separate part of the AJG collections is the art from the 16th to the 18th centuries, focused on Flemish and Dutch paintings. Very important is the collection of modern and contemporary art, which includes, among others, the artworks of Otto Gutfreund, Toyen, Jindřich Štýrský, Bohumil Kubišta, and Josef Lada.
Arts and Theatre Institute
Celetná 17, 110 00 Prague 1
www.idu.cz
The ATI’s mission is to provide comprehensive services in the field of theater and other areas of art (music, literature, dance and visual arts). The Institute amasses, processes and makes public objects related to theatre, which are collection items in character, it provides scientific research and education, and cooperates in designing exhibition projects. It participates in a number of international projects, stages the Prague Quadrennial of Scenography and Theater Space; it is also involved in the programme Creative Europe – Culture.
Brno House of Art
Malinovského náměstí 652/2, 602 00 Brno
http://www.dum-umeni.cz
The Brno House of Arts (originally Kaiser Franz Josef-Jubiläums-Künstlerhaus) opened in 1911. Between 1946 and 1947, the building was rebuilt by Brno’s architect Bohuslav Fuchs to take on the current functionalist appearance. Nowadays, it has two exhibition buildings, four exhibition halls and three studios for residencies for foreign artists; it also houses Vašulka Kitchen Brno (Centre for New Media Art), and is a place of the project Brno Architectural Manual.
Břeclav Municipal Museum and Gallery
Dukelských hrdinů 2747/4, 690 02 Břeclav
www.muzeumbv.cz
The history of museums in Břeclav goes back to 1928, the year when the Museum and Local History and Geography Society was established. The current institution was founded in 1995 and shows the most important moments from the history and art in the region. The permanent exhibitions are devoted to the history of the House of Liechtenstein, Judaism in Břeclav and Slavic archeology and are on the exhibition entitled ‘Great Moravian Pohansko’ (fortified settlement).
Center for Contemporary Arts Prague
Dukelských hrdinů 500/25a, 170 00 Prague
www.fcca.cz
The Centre for Contemporary Arts in Prague (CCA Prague) has been developing cultural programmes since it was established (1992). They include projects of valuable artistic quality, whose implementation provides broader social and cultural contexts. The CCA’s pilot projects are the “Galerie Jelení” (since 1999), documentation or educational programmes with lectures, and a comprehensive online database of Czech Arts – Artlist.cz (since 1992, resp. 2007), an international residentional programme (since 1995), and the “Galerie Cursor” (since 2017).
DOX Center for Contemporary Art
Poupětova 1, 170 00 Praha
www.dox.cz
‘DOX’ derives from a Greek word doxa meaning of which among others is how things are perceived, a belief, and an opinion. The DOX Centre for Contemporary Art focuses on art projects and critical reflection on current social issues and questions, which overlap with other areas and disciplines beyond arts, such as psychology, philosophy, history, sociology, political science, etc. The complex of buildings either restored or newly built by Ivan Kroupa, Martin Rajniš and Petr Hájek’s designs illustrates the top of the contemporary world architecture.
Gallery of the Central Bohemian Region
Barborská 51, 284 01 Kutná Hora
www.gask.cz
The Gallery of the Central Bohemian Region (GASK) is the institution devoted to the 20th and the 21st centuries’ visual arts. Housed collections are displayed in a sensitive manner and through inspirationally composed expositions. The concept of the current presentation of the collection ‘States of Mind / Beyond the Image’ is based on single spheres corresponding to a particular human’s state of mind, either emotional or of thoughts when a piece of work is created. The Gallery follows up the mission of the Jesuit College as a venue of education as it evaluates collections and programmes by authenticity of testimony, so conveys their communication in the form that is familiar to today’s human beings.
Gallery of Fine Arts in Cheb
nám. Krále Jiřího z Poděbrad 16, 350 46 Cheb
www.gavu.cz
The Gallery is an art museum housing a collection covering the Czech art from the 19th to the 21st century, and an extraordinary collection of Gothic plastic arts from the Cheb region. Both collections are displayed on permanent exhibitions in the main building and the Baroque palace in the main square in Cheb, where several temporary exhibitions are always on view at the same time. Since 2016, it has been operating the Retromuseum standing adjacent, which is the museum of design and lifestyle featuring the period between the EXPO 58 world exhibition in Brussels and the Velvet Revolution (1989). It hosts a permanent exhibition and temporary displays in two exhibition halls.
Gallery of Fine Arts in Havlíčkův Brod
Havlickovo namesti 18, 580 01 Havlickuv Brod
www.galeriehb.cz
Designed to specialize in modern Czech book illustration, drawing and graphics within the networks of regional galleries being built that time, the Gallery opened towards 1 January 1965 to perform traditional exhibition activities at the East Bohemian Publishing House. It followed up art competitions by organizing interesting events on the occasion of the National Festivals of Humor and Satire.
Gallery of Fine Arts in Ostrava
House of Arts, Jurečkova 9, 70 200 Ostrava
www.gvuo.cz
The Gallery boasts collections consisting of over 23,000 art objects such as paintings, sculptures, graphics, photographs and new media. Their heart is the so-called Jureček’s Picture Gallery containing works by leading artists (Joža Uprka, Antonín Slavíček, Mikoláš Aleš, Felix Jenewein, etc.). The collections also include a painting entitled ‘Judith’ by Gustav Klimt, as well as works by authors such as Hans von Aachen, František Kupka, Ilja Repin, Emil Orlik, Toyen. The building housing the House of Arts was built in 1926 and belongs to the jewels of Ostrava’s architecture.
On-line collections: gvuo.cz/top100, new acquisitions gvuo.cz/zisky, virtual tours: gvuo.cz/virtualni-prohlidky
House of Lobkowicz / Lobkowicz Collections
Jiřská 3, 119 00 Prague
www.lobkowicz.cz
The art collections of the Roudnice branch of the Lobkowicz dynasty belong to the oldest, most extensive and the best-preserved private collections in Europe. The collection contains 15,000 art objects and crafts including weapons and armour; 5,000 musical scores; 4,500 pieces of graphics; 65,000 books and 1.5 km of archival records. The family collections were confiscated by both the Nazi and Communist regimes in the 20th century. In the 1990s, they were reassembled and made public in the Lobkowicz Palace in Prague Castle and in Nelahozeves Castle.
Kunsthalle Praha
Evropská 2758/11, 160 00 Praha
www.kunsthallepraha.org
Kunsthalle Praha is a new centre for art and culture in the historical centre of Prague. Located in the converted building of the former Zenger Electrical Substation, this non-profit gallery creates a dynamic international platform and modern environment for art exhibitions, educational projects and social events. The mission of the Kunsthalle Praha is to contribute to deeper understanding of the Czech and international art from the 20th and 21st centuries, and to offer an extensive programme for wide audience of all generations.
Lidice Memorial
Tokajická 152, 273 54 Lidice
www.lidice-memorial.cz
The Lidice Memorial preserves the memory of the village of Lidice and the Ležáky settlement exterminated by Nazis in 1942 and seeks to preserve their names as a worldwide symbol of the victims of Nazism. The institution holds a unique collection of modern art founded in 1967 by Sir Barnett Stross consisting of works by the leading worlds and Czech artists such as Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Adolf Hoffmeister, Pravoslav Kotík.
Litomyšl City Gallery
Smetanovo nám. 110, 570 01 Litomyšl
www.galerie.litomysl.cz
The Litomyšl Municipal Gallery houses a collection of fine arts dating from the 19th to the 21st century. It is located in the Renaissance house U Rytířů in Litomyšl Square, where it helds short-term art displays. The permanent exhibition of the most important works from the Gallery collection is on view in the Municipal Picture Gallery on the second floor of Litomyšl Castle. The exhibition shows works by leading Czech authors (Emil Filla, Josef Čapek, František Tichý, Václav Boštík and Olbram Zoubek) as well as artists related to the region, including Julius Mařák, who was born in Litomyšl.
Montanelli Museum
Nerudova 13, 118 01 Praha
www.museummontanelli.com
The Montanelli Museum is a private non-profit institution of modern fine art(s). Its mission is to promote interest in and a deeper understanding of modern art across diverse groups of public. The museum’s program includes a wide range of various activities from the presentation of the contemporary Czech and foreign artists, often with an overlap into “art experience”, to contemporary dance art or performance, including guided tours, interviews with artists and curators and other numerous individual projects.
Moravian Gallery in Brno
Husova 18, 662 26 Brno
www.moravska-galerie.cz
The Moravian Gallery in Brno is the second largest art museum in the Czech Republic. It was founded in 1961 after unifying collections from the Moravian Museum of Applied Arts and the Picture Gallery of the Moravian Museum. It operates five buildings: Pražák Palace; the Museum of Applied Arts; Governor’s Palace; Architect Dušan Jurkovič’s own villa; and Josef Hoffmann’s Natal House in Brtnice, which is the workplace shared with the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), Vienna. It is the only art museum in our country that perceives fine arts culture in overall, and works with free art coming from the earliest times to the present times, with photograph, applied arts, graphic design and architecture. Virtual tours, on-line collections, podcasts: #moravskagaleriedoma
Mucha Foundation
Hradčanské náměstí 65/6, 118 00 Praha 1
www.muchafoundation.org
The Mucha Foundation is an independent, non-profit foundation that cares for Alphonse Mucha’s legacy and his family collection. It is a co-founder of the Mucha Museum, the first museum in the world dedicated to the life and work of renowned and popular Art Nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha. The Mucha Museum contains about 100 paintings, charcoal drawings, pastels, lithographs and personal memorabilia that offer a brilliant insight into the creation of the artist who is famous for posters designed for Sarah Bernhardt, a legendary Paris actress of the late-19th-century.
Museum of Art and Design Benešov
Malé náměstí 74, 256 01 Benešov
www.mudbenesov.cz
The Museum in Benešov is dedicated to art and design from the 20th and the 21st centuries, most of the Czech provenance. The collections include leading authors such as Ladislav Šíma, whose name bears the ceremonial hall in the building, next Miloslav Chlupáč, a native of Benešov, Jiří David, Karel Nepraš, Daisy Mrázková, Dagmar Hochová, Libuše Niklová or Maxim Velčovský. The collections have been added to by the leading Czech art theorist Jiří Šetlík’s donation. The Museum provides the environment for an art-loving community from Benešov and its environs in the café’s social room, library, and garden, which is an open-air sculpture gallery.
North Bohemian Gallery of Fine Arts
Michalská 7, 412 01 Litoměřice
www.galerie-ltm.cz
The North Bohemian Gallery of Fine Arts, founded in 1950, has been operating in Litoměřice since 1956. Its founder is a territorial self-governing unit – the Ústí nad Labem Region. The gallery, located in several important immovable monuments, is one of the most important art museums in the region. Within the gallery collections can be found more than 7,000 objects: paintings, graphics and sculptures. The main aim of the North Bohemian Gallery is at the documentation of Czech fine art from the 19th century to the present, nevertheless, the collection of naive art and art brut has European significance.
Olomouc Museum of Art
Denisova 47, 771 11 Olomouc
www.olmuart.cz
The Museum of Art in Olomouc was established in 1951. It is housed in three buildings: the Museum of Modern Art, the Olomouc Archdiocesan Museum and the Kroměříž Archdiocesan Museum holding collections of ancient, modern and contemporary arts. The Museum boasts a rich collection of fine arts culture of Central Europe, which is to be kept in the Central European Forum Olomouc new building. The collection contains 185 thousand objects. The Olomouc Archdiocesan Museum was awarded the European Heritage Label in 2016.
Virtual tour: https://artsandculture.google.com/streetview/muzeum-um,, MUO – Google Arts and Culture: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/muzeum-um%C4%9Bn%C3%AD-olomouc-olomouc-museum-of-art,, for the most valuable artwork in the Museum’s collections go on www.muo.cz; the Museum’s project Central European Art Database (CEAD) aiming to build up a dynamic on-line database of fine arts and culture of post-war Central Europe: http://cead.space/, podcasts http://muo.cz/podcast-muzea-umeni-olomouc/, videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/muzeumumeniolomouc, educational programmes: http://muo.cz/budte-v-kontaktu/inspirujte-se-s-nasimi-edukatory-a-tvorte-doma-s-detmi–3306/
PLATO Ostrava
Janáčkova 22; 702 00 Ostrava
www.plato-ostrava.cz
The Gallery of the City of Ostrava for Contemporary Visual Arts provides a background for everyone who wants to understand the world in a broader context. Its complexity and richness is reflected through art, in an international context and at the highest possible quality. At the moment, The Gallery operates on an area of almost 5,000 m in the former Bauhaus hobby market, however, in 2022 the definitive seat of PLATO will become the reconstructed Town Slaughterhouse from the end of the 19th century, listed as one of the cultural protected monuments.
Prague City Gallery
Staroměstské náměstí 605/13, 110 00 Prague 1
www.ghmp.cz
The Prague City Gallery belongs among the most important galleries in the Czech Republic. It particularly specializes in modern and contemporary arts; it collects, preserves and professionally processes art collections of the capital city of Prague. At present, the Gallery has displays in seven buildings: the House at the Stone Bell; the Municipal Library – Floor 2; the Colloredo-Mansfeld Palace; the House of Photography; Bílek’s Villa; Troja Château; and the František Bílek’s House in Chýnov.
Regional Gallery in Liberec
Masarykova 723/14, 460 01 Liberec
www.ogl.cz
The Liberec Regional Gallery is the fifth largest gallery in the Czech Republic. It was founded in 1953. Since 2014 it has been housed in the building of the former town spa. The Gallery holds collections consisting of over 21,000 art objects from the Czech Republic and other European countries, so is a sort of Museum of European Art. The Gallery’s exhibition dramaturgy places special emphasis on the art of the region and the art of Czech Germans, thus it significantly helps discover and understand the forgotten identity of the Sudetenland.
Regional Museum and Gallery in Most
Čsl. armády 1360/35, 434 01 Most
www.muzeummost.cz
The Museum in Most was established in 1888. Since the beginning, it has been assembling historical, scientific, and artistic collections with an emphasis on the wider Most region, represented by three geomorphological units – the Most Basin, the Ore Mountains, and the Bohemian Central Mountains. Historically, the most important part of the collections is the personal estate of Ulrika von Levetzow, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s last love, which is on display in the permanent exhibition. Collections of insects, fossils, weapons, textile, arts (including folk), and handicrafts are also extremely rare and rich.
Rudolfinu Gallery
Alšovo nábřeží 12, 110 00 Prague
www.galerierudolfinum.cz
The Rudolfinum Gallery is one of the so-called Kunsthalle (art gallery) occupying a high position in the Czech gallery scene. It specialized in presenting contemporary, especially international art, which was displayed on exhibitions, e.g. Decadence Now!; Damien Hirst; Louise Bourgeois; Georg Baselitz; and Arthur Jafa. Attended by 161,824 visitors, the Gallery and Czech artist Krištof Kintera’s interactive project entitled ‘Nervous Trees’ was the most visited exhibition of the year in the Czech Republic in 2017.
Sladovna Písek
Velké náměstí 113, 397 01 Písek
www.sladovna.cz
‘Gallery in Play’ is space where children and adults play and create together; they learn from each other, they can freely cross the border between their worlds. The thing that is key for us is teaching in exhibitions, we draw our inspiration from J. A. Comenius’s art of teaching: ‘much can be learned in play’. Interactive permanent and temporary exhibitions on four floors get visitors involved in game-based activities that encourage their creativity, give inspiration, knowledge, and where they can enjoy experiences.
Strahov Picture Gallery – Strahov Monastery
Strahovské nádvoří 1/132, 118 00 Prague 1
www.strahovskyklaster.cz/expozice-obrazarny
The Picture Gallery of the Premonstratensian Monastery in Strahov, the foundation of which was laid as early as 1835, houses more than half a thousand paintings today. The most valuable part of the collection is installed in the corridors of the cloister on the floor of the convent building. Two hundred paintings present part of a collection from the 14th to the mid-19th century. The ground floor of the convent with historic halls, including the exposition dedicated to St. Norbert, the founder of the Premonstratensian Order, is also accessible to visitors. There is a display of the largest newly restored collection of Prague’s early Baroque paintings created by painter Jan Jiří Hering for the Strahov Basilica between 1626 and 1630.
Vysočina Regional Gallery in Jihlava
Komenského 10 and Masarykovo náměstí 24, 586 01 Jihlava
www.ogv.cz
The Vysočina Regional Gallery is housed in two valuable Renaissance burgher houses in the historical center in Jihlava. Its exhibition, collection, research and publishing activities primarily focus on art from the 19th century to the present times. It holds more than 6,000 art objects.
On-line collections: http://www.ogv.cz/on-line-katalog-sb and educational programs: http://www.ogv.cz/vyzva_deti_c