National Technical Museum - Grand Reopening

Celebrations on February 15 and 16, 2011 heralded the re-opening of the National Technical Museum after years of renovations. The beloved Transportation Hall still features the huge trains, old automobiles and fire engines, with planes of all kinds flying above them. This section will continue to be the most appealing for young children. New are the numerous videos showing everyday life. It was surprising, however, to see a nude woman being (discreetly) helped into her bath by the maid, featured in a clip displayed behind a gleaming red antique car. Other clips are more closely related to their exhibits. What is lacking in most cases is a place to sit down while watching them.

Do not miss: President Masaryk's 1935 Tatra 80 and the Mercedes Benz of the SS-Obergruppenführer from the Nazi occupation in 1939 to 1942. After the assassination of Heydrich, the Mercedes Benz was converted into a closed sedan. Other wartime memorabilia include a Spitfire flown by Czech pilots with the British Royal Air Force, as well as the uniform, passport, and personal effects of one of the pilots. Less conspicuous is a charming early 20th century delivery van with polished wooden sides. It's tucked away near the fire engines.

The trains include express steam locomotives from 1881 and 1911 and the dining car of Emperor Franz Joseph I. The best view into the dining car's luxury interior is from the mockup of the train station platform.

New Exhibits
Four other exhibits are completely new: Astronomy, Photography, Architecture and Industrial Design, and Printing. Visitors enter the Astronomy exhibit through a darkened blue oval featuring a time line of discoveres. Strangely, it begins with the most recent and moves backward in time. One emerges into a room of floor-to-ceiling curved glass display cases, which can sometimes be as disorienting as funhouse mirrors. They feature a large eye-catching display of old astronomical instruments, dramatically lighted. Unfortunately for the lay person, the videos explaining how they were used are all in Czech with no subtitles, while a video on telescopes is in a strongly-accented, poorly articulated British dialect with mis-pronounced Hawaiian names, all accompanied by Czech subtitles.

The Photography exhibit is quite dimly lighted, to preserve the antique photos, and half of it is quite technical information about the chemistry of making photos and printing materials through the 19th and 20th centuries. This is excellent for visitors fascinated by a serious history of photography. A mockup of a photographer's studio and darkroom successfully evoke historical stagings for ordinary visitors. Interactive displays, such a those demonstrating increasing the depth of field in a photo and sharpening focus on inclined planes, were not working well on two early visits.

Both the Printing and the Architecture exhibits have more accessible content for the average visitor. One enters the Printing exhibit through a maze made of books. The old printing presses are impressive, though the interactive exhibits are not easy to use.

The opening section of the Architecture exhibit is particularly colorful and joyful with its Art Nouveau and Cubist displays and its mockups of architects' offices. Don't miss the numerous architectural drawings in the sliding drawers below some cases and models of both the acclaimed 1937 Czech Paris Pavilion and the famous 1958 Brussels Pavilion, the restaurant from which has been rebuilt in Letna Park. The glorious glass fountain from the Brussels '58 Expo is displayed at the exhibit's entrance.

The end of the Architecture exhibit, a collection or Czech-language posters depicting recent buildings, could be dramatically improved by the addition of a video presentation showing how contemporary architects and engineers design their structures with computers.

Depending on one's fortitude, the museum could be an all-day undertaking or a multi-visit destination. Taking the time to read labels is both rewarding and necessary, since large explanatory panels are general lacking. In the architecture exhibit, much of the information is most meaningful to those who already know Prague's architectural styles and landmarks, but Joself Shutz's 1869 watercolors of architectural ornamentation in Forence are simply pure delight to the eye.

An overall impression of the entire museum leads one to believe the management and the curators only partially realize the potential for an international audience for these exhibits. More information can easily be provided for English speakers and those unfamiliar with the details of Czech history and Prague architecture. Some large explanatory panels, maps, subtitles on videos, and explanations on the interactive panels would go a long way toward making the exhibit appealing to a wider audience.

With young children in tow, 60 to 90 minutes would seem to be the maximum visit. The museum's location across from beautiful Letna Park makes it an ideal place to combine with a stroll, a beer in the beer garden or a meal in the chateau, and time to savor views of the river and Old Town while the children climb the colorful ceramic horses in the playground nearby.

National Agricultural Museum

"A Taste of Europe"
Museums in 9 European countries collaborated on this small exhibit: Hungary, Scotland, Estonia, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and the Czech Republic. Each chose a product representative of their country. Of course, the Czech Republic chose beer production.

The intent, to make more conscious our current relationships to food, seems worthy. However, the final result lacks the drama and imagination one can easily envision would make this a memorable exhibit. Other than one short silent video, running without any explanations, production of the foods from each country is not shown or explained. Samples of the products, even if only the packaging, would definitely have helped. It's impossible to say whether it' s lack of funds or lack of vision that is at fault.

Rather feeble attempts are made at interactive features. Most of the exhibits involve only reading. Excellent English translations are avaible at the back of most of the 3 ring binders but, curiously, the Czech exhibit on beer has only very limited English translations. A few antique agricultural implements add some ambience as does a mockup of a hops field and a pub. Some manequins in worker's garb in the hops field and others in the pub would certainly have added some liveliness. Gazing at the dried-out hop wines and the barren pub, one could almost wish for a few samples of beer as well!

Very young children can play in the children's corner, where there are small chairs and tables. Several were happily drawing there during our visit. Adults and children older than 10 may find some of the bits of information worthwhile. One memorable set of facts about time spent daily on meals came from a survey of 15 European countries:

• Cooking took between 33 and 59 minutes
  
• Eating took between 75 and 135 minutes.
  
• Washing dishes took between 10 and 21 minutes