The National Technical Museum is a memorial institution assembling collections of material evidence of the development of technology, industry, transport, architecture and science of Czech and foreign provenance, particularly from the territory of the Czech Republic. Other tasks it has are also closely connected with this – specialist preparation of collections and their presentation in the form of permanent displays and exhibitions, scientific and research activity, cooperation with other institutions, services provided by the archive and the library and constant cooperation with schools and the media.
In today’s open Europe without frontiers we also wish to acquaint the public with the importance the Czech Lands have had for technological and industrial progress in the European context, and to play a joint part in presenting the latest results and findings in the fields of science and industry. Aware of the wider context of science and technology in the life of our contemporaries, we are striving for a museum where visitors will be enriched by the experience and will be afforded the possibility of coming into personal contact with technology.
Since the autumn of 2006, the museum has been closed to the public, for its building in Letná is undergoing demanding reconstruction. But despite this the NTM lives on. It is putting on itinerant exhibitions in allied institutions, making loans abroad and at home, issuing publications, and acquisitions and administration of collections are going on all the time. Its drying room is operating at full stretch and the process of digitalization of two-dimensional collection items has been started.
Great effort is currently being devoted to preparation of the Railway Museum project in the premises of the Masarykovo Railway Station depot. The long-term aim is its incorporation in the concept of what is termed “the Museum Mile”. This should lead to closer cooperation between important Prague museum institutions – the National Museum, the NTM Railway Museum, the Museum of the Capital City of Prague, the Army Museum in Žižkov and the National Monument in Vítkov so that a museum promenade route is created in the centre of Prague that will be interesting for tourists.
In August 2008, the second stage of the long-term reconstruction of the National Technical Museum building was completed. Particular exhibitions will then progressively be completed during 2009 – 2010. Availability of all displays and exhibitions to the public is planned by 2010 at the latest.
In the period 2008 – 2010 celebrations of the centenary of its foundation await the museum. On this occasion a special reminiscence exhibition, Story of the National Technical Museum, will be opened. A well-composed pictorial publication with the same name will come out mapping the 100 years of the NTM’s life and also a new jubilee catalogue of collection items.
Despite this commemorative reference to the legacy of its predecessors, the museum’s management is aware of the need to prepare a vision of the NTM for the 21st century. The Science and Technology Board together with a team of specialists is working on the creation of a new museum programme, which will define the goals and priorities for the following period so that it is possible to build a modern museum institution as a living and inspiring source of scientific and technological knowledge.
Mgr. Horymír Kubíček
General Director of the National Technical Museum