25. june – 31 October 2021

For the sixth season, the National Technical Museum in the NTM Plasy Building Heritage Centre has prepared the exhibition Building Locksmithing, for Use and Decoration: the Transformation of Window and Door Fittings.

The collections of the National Technical Museum illustrate well the development of window and door fittings over the last 400 years. Until the Baroque period, door hardware was deliberately emphasised – the locksmith work was often more expensive than the joinery itself. From the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, hardware on windows and doors began to be partially hidden. The exhibition traces not only the aesthetic side of the fittings, but also their basic developmental breaks or the historical names of the individual elements. At the same time, it is intended to draw attention to the fact that even today many window and door fittings are irreversibly destroyed when windows and doors are replaced, causing damage that the owners of the buildings may regret a generation later. The exhibition also includes a section documenting the development of padlocks.

The exhibition is open as part of the NTM CSD Plasy Building Exhibition from 25 to 31 October 2021.

Supported by the project of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic NAKI II No. DG18P02OVV030 – “Speech of material – traditional craft technologies for the preservation of cultural heritage and contemporary lifestyle”.