Waldesovo muzeum, Button museum in Vrsovice, Prague, Czech Republic.
Waldesovo muzeum was a museum in Vrsovice, Prague, that focused on small metal and organic objects like buttons, clasps, and fasteners. The collection spanned more than 3000 years and included items ranging from prehistoric times to recent centuries.
The museum was founded in 1916 by Jindrich Waldes in a factory building before moving to Svatopluk Cech Square in Prague. It operated for decades until closing in 2003.
The space once gathered fastening items and ornaments from around the world, showing how people adorned their clothing across different cultures and time periods. These objects revealed diverse craftsmanship traditions and the ways communities valued personal decoration in daily life.
The museum no longer operates, but its former building still stands in an accessible neighborhood with good public transit connections. The space now houses Gallery DESET with rotating exhibitions and an antiquarian bookstore that opened in 2020.
The collection was organized systematically, with buttons and clasps displayed on manufacturer cards that showed complete production series. This allowed visitors to compare how different factories from around the world made and stamped similar items.
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