The NTM Plasy Building Heritage Centre opened its exhibitions on 26 May 2020
One of the rarest exhibits from the collections of the National Technical Museum
is on display in Plasy.
The National Technical Museum opened this year’s Centre of Building Heritage in Plasy on Tuesday, May 26. Its operation, like that of the main NTM building in Prague Letná, is adapted to the current conditions and the exhibitions are prepared with great care so that visitors to the museum can feel safe. In 2020, the NTM Plasy Building Heritage Centre will be open from 26 May to 1 November every day except Mondays from 9am to 5pm, including public holidays.
“I am extremely pleased that we can once again open the National Technical Museum, including its branches in Plasy and Chomutov, to visitors,” says NTM Director General Karel Ksandr. “The NTM Plasy Building Heritage Centre is a welcome tourist destination, whether by its location in the picturesque valley of the Střela River or by its unique museum exhibition.”
The exhibition programme of the NTM Plasy Building Heritage Centre offers other themes besides building
The NTM Plasy Building Heritage Centre focuses primarily on the presentation of building history. However, the rarest exhibit that visitors can see in the exhibition is from a completely different area. “Every year, the National Technical Museum tries to bring visitors to Plasy with a different theme besides construction,” says Karel Ksandr, who explains the NTM’s intentions. “For this year, when the NTM Plasy Building Heritage Centre will celebrate its fifth anniversary, we have chosen a real gem. In Plasy we will exhibit one of the rarest objects from the NTM collections, namely a Renaissance armillary sphere. It was made between 1560 and 1580 and is the only one from that time that has survived in our country.” This astronomical instrument, which has become a symbol of Renaissance science, served both as a demonstration aid in teaching and as an observational and measuring instrument. It was built according to the geocentric Ptolemaic theory, with the Earth at the centre of the planetary system.
One of the newly prepared exhibitions also enriches the Building Exposition with a different view of the world. It is entitled The Favorit Phenomenon and is dedicated to the story of the legendary domestic cycling brand. Visitors will be able to see such unique items as the bicycle bicycle of the twenty-time world champions the Pospíšil brothers, the track bike of Jiří Daler, who won the first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo in 1964, a special motor racing car or the millionth Favorit produced. The exhibition also commemorates the unique personality of Robert Drozda, who used to be met on his bicycle by people in Plasy. “Robert Drozda is indelibly etched in everyone’s memory as a railwayman, writer, watchmaker from Plasy and, more recently, author of plays. However, not everyone knows that he was a passionate cyclist from his youth. For example, he took part in endurance races for the title of ‘Iron Man’. The code was 2/20/200. 2km to swim, 20 to run and 200 to cycle. All in 24 hours. The first two races he did on an ordinary Favorit touring bike. This is almost unimaginable for me,” adds Karel Ksandr.
The Favorit Phenomenon exhibition can be visited from 26 May to 1 November 2020.
The next exhibition planned for this year is already connected with the construction industry, specifically with joinery and parquet. The exhibition, entitled Building Joinery, tells the story of one of the oldest branches of woodworking, a craft that completes and furnishes the living space of our homes. It traces the journey of woodworking from hand to machine, helping the visitor to discover the value of seemingly simple things, to recognize honest craft from dishonest one. The exhibition will be open from 9 June to 1 November 2020.
It has become a tradition to offer encounters with contemporary architecture in the form of outdoor exhibitions in the courtyard in front of the Exposition of Architecture. This year, visitors can also expect the exhibitions Building of the Year and Czech Architecture Award.
A safe visit
In order to ensure that the visit to the museum is completely safe, increased hygiene rules will naturally apply in the NTM buildings – the need to cover the face with a veil, the mandatory use of hand sanitizer, and compliance with the specified capacity of the museum and exhibitions. For reasons of preventive measures, the Building Playground will also be temporarily closed in the NTM Plasy Building Heritage Centre and the operation of interactive exhibits will be restricted. There will also be no guided tours or any other accompanying programme or events for school groups. For more information, visit www.muzeum-plasy.cz and www.ntm.cz.
“We thank visitors for their support and understanding and ask that they follow safety guidelines. We hope that they will find their visit to the National Technical Museum an enjoyable experience despite the current measures,” concludes Karel Ksandr.
NTM Press Release 26 May 2020
Bc. Jan Duda
Head of the PR and Public Relations Department
Email: jan.duda@ntm.cz
Mob: +420 770 121 917
National Technical Museum
Kostelní 42, 170 00, Prague 7
