Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, Decorative arts museum in Josefov, Prague, Czech Republic
The Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague occupies a Neo-Renaissance building by architect Josef Schulz, constructed from 1897 to 1899 in Josefov, next to the Old Jewish Cemetery. Its permanent exhibition, ART, LIFE. Art for Life, displays over 1,300 objects from a collection of half a million, in six themed halls covering glass, ceramics, metal, wood, textiles, fashion, jewellery and design.
The museum was founded in 1885, after the 1861 exhibition of decorative arts at the Old Town Hall and the 1868 show on Žofín Island organised with the Vienna museum. Its Neo-Renaissance building by Josef Schulz was built from 1897 to 1899 and opened in 1900. Vojtěch Lanna was its most important donor.
The galleries display everyday objects such as glass, ceramics, and textiles made by craftspeople across many periods. Walking through the rooms, visitors can see how taste and craft tradition shifted over time.
The museum sits near the Jewish Quarter and is easy to reach on foot from the Old Town. Allow a few hours to go through the collections, as they are spread across several floors.
The museum's library is the largest Czech library specialising in the arts and related fields, holding 172,000 volumes, including art encyclopedias, dictionaries of artists and works on iconography, topography and heraldry. It offers on-premises use of resources, database access and research in the Art and Architecture subject gateway.
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