Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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Founded in 1885, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague is housed in a Neo-Renaissance edifice built in 1897–1901 after the designs of architect Josef Schulz. The Museum’s rich collections include decorative and applied arts and design work ranging from Late Antiquity to the present day, with focus on European objects, particularly arts and crafts created in the Bohemian Lands. The impressive interior of the permanent exhibition “Stories of Materials” offers visitors an excursion into the history and development of decorative arts: glass and ceramics, graphic art and design, objects made in metal, wood and other materials, jewellery, clocks and watches, textiles, fashion, toys and furniture.

The Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague collects and preserves for future generations—in both national and international contexts—examples of historical and contemporary crafts, as well as applied arts and design. We believe in harmony between function, quality and beauty; our ambition is to inspire, educate and entertain in a unique way.

The foundation of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague in 1885 reflected the dramatic development of Czech society at the time. Following the establishment of a similar institution in Brno in 1873, the Prague museum soon became an important cultural and educational centre in the Crown Lands of Bohemia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The unfavourable impact of the Industrial Revolution on the aesthetic appearance and, consequently, the quality of products had for a long time been the subject of justified criticisms from artists, theorists and the public. The idea of establishing a permanent exhibition of decorative and applied arts in Prague was realised through an exhibition arranged by the Arkadia Association in 1861 at the Old Town Hall in Prague. Another source of inspiration had been the founding of a similar institution – the South Kensington Museum (now Victoria and Albert Museum), which opened in London in 1852, originally containing a collection of objects of applied and decorative arts. More important for the Czech public, however, was the Österreichisches Museum für Kunst und Industrie, which opened in Vienna in 1864. In 1868, in cooperation with the Vienna museum, the Prague Chamber of Trade and Commerce held an exhibition on Žofín Island of objects obtained from the World Exhibition in Paris in 1867, supplemented by historical arts and crafts mostly from the collection of Vojtěch Lanna (who became the Museum’s most important donor and sponsor). In a period when funds and suitable buildings were hard to find, the promise of the exhibition area in the Rudolfinum (the House of the Artists), made in 1872 and realised in 1885 when the presidium of the Chamber of Trade and Commerce decided to establish an independent museum, also contributed greatly to the birth of the Museum. Between 1897 and 1900, a Museum building in Neo-Renaissance style was built according to the design of the architect Josef Schulz on a plot of land located between the Old Jewish Cemetery and a street on the edge of Josefov quarter.

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