The National Technical Museum has prepared a unique gift for all visitors to Plas on 17 and 18 August 2019. In the Centre of Engineering Heritage, the NTM Plasy will display one of its rarest exhibits – the original car of J. Hanzelka and M. Zikmund, with which this legendary duo made their first trip around the world. The exhibition is held on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ing. Miroslav Zikmund, a native of Pilsen.
The car, which has been declared a national cultural monument, will be exceptionally exhibited outside the transport hall of the main building of the National Technical Museum and will complement, at least briefly, the exhibition dedicated to the two travellers this year at the NTM Plasy Centre of Building Heritage.
The car, which has travelled almost 61,000 kilometres in Africa and South America, a legendary air-cooled V8 that was capable of reaching speeds of up to 160 km/h, will be parked in the courtyard in front of the Exposition of Civil Engineering in one of the oldest garages that has survived in our territory. “It is worth mentioning,” adds Pavel Kodera, the head of the Centre of Building Heritage of the NTM Plasy, “that the garage, which was used for the operation of the brewery, was heated by steam from the brewery boiler and was equipped with a hot and cold water supply. Its plans date back to 1912.”
“The personalities of Messrs Hanzelka and Zikmund are still very inspiring today,” says Karel Ksandr, Director General of the National Technical Museum. “I very much appreciate the opportunity to personally wish Mr. Zikmund a happy 100th birthday this year. I consider it very important to bring his person closer to the region where he was born.” In addition to the exhibition entitled “Filmaři Hanzelka a Zikmund”, the National Technical Museum will park the legendary Tatra 87 at the Centre of Building Heritage of the NTM Plasy and in September it will organise several lectures and an outdoor screening of the film “The Century of Miroslav Zikmund”.
At the same time, on Saturday, 17 August, several other Tatra cars will meet in the courtyard in front of the Exposition of Civil Engineering in cooperation with the Tatra Heritage Association.
Those who would like to make a trip to the NTM Plasy Building Heritage Centre on other days will certainly not be disappointed. The Permanent Exhibition of Civil Engineering is now supplemented by a section called “Statika hrou”, and at the temporary exhibitions you can see 3D photographs of the aforementioned pair of travellers Hanzelka and Zikmund, see a model of the largest stamping machine in Victoria or reflect on the design of the Danube-Oder-Labe Canal. During the holidays, the arts and crafts workshop is also still open, where you can learn how to make ceramic mosaics and create your own original work.

NTM Press Release 3 August 2019

Mgr. Kristýna Koderová
PR and Public Relations Department
Email: kristyna.koderova@ntm.cz
Mob.: 777 710 802

NTM Plasy Building Heritage Centre
Pivovarská 5, 331 01 Plasy
www.muzeum-plasy.cz