★★★★★ 5.0
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National Technical Museum
Did you know that beneath your feet, right here in this 1938 functionalist palace, lies a secret tunnel system that once connected to Prague Castle for wartime evacuations? As you face this massive limestone facade with its 312 windows arranged in perfect mathematical precision, you're looking at what was originally a stock exchange building - until the Nazis seized it in 1942 to store stolen Jewish artifacts... artifacts that mysteriously vanished and have never been found. Step through these bronze doors and you'll enter Europe's largest technical exhibition hall, where in 1948, a young František Běhounek - survivor of a doomed Arctic expedition with the airship Italia - secretly recorded banned jazz music in the astronomy section after hours. Look up immediately as you enter... see that enormous Tatra T87 suspended from the ceiling? That's the actual car that Nazi officers abandoned here in May 1945, still containing classified documents that revealed Prague's underground resistance network. Your journey takes you 20 meters underground into a real 1940s coal mine, complete with the original Ostrava pit cage that trapped 34 miners for six days in 1961 - all survived by drinking condensation from the walls. Before you descend, whisper "ahoj" three times near the elevator... locals swear you'll hear the ghost of Jan Kašpar, Czech aviation pioneer, whose prototype plane crashed through this very building's roof in 1911, creating the skylight you see above.
Did You Know?
- The National Technical Museum in Prague is one of the five oldest specialized technical museums in the world, with origins tracing back to the late 18th century—when the Union for Encouragement of Industry in Bohemia was founded—and its earliest collections began in 1862 with Vojtěch Náprstek, who showcased cutting-edge inventions like the first pedal sewing machine in Prague, emphasizing the Czech lands’ long-standing pride in technological innovation.
- Hidden beneath the museum is a unique, life-sized coal mine model, complete with 90 tons of real coal from Kladno. Although never used for actual mining, this immersive exhibit was once a recruitment center for the prestigious mining profession during Czechoslovakia’s industrial development, offering visitors an authentic underground atmosphere and a glimpse into the country’s industrial heritage.
- The museum’s striking Functionalist building, designed by architect Milan Babuška and opened in 1942, stands adjacent to Letná Park and houses not only vast technical collections but also a Fine Arts gallery featuring 17th–20th century paintings and sculptures themed around industry and science, blending art with engineering in a way rarely seen in technical museums.