For the deaf and hearing impaired

The National Technical Museum (NTM) for deaf and hearing impaired individuals

The National Technical Museum in cooperation with the Institute of Languages and Communication of the Deaf of the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague has prepared this channel, which aims to bring its collections closer to visitors with hearing impairments.

Základní údaje o objektech NTM:Basic data about the premises of the NTM:

For more information, see the section of the website For visitors.

Vstupné:

Hlavní budova NTM Praha

Otevírací doba: úterý – neděle 9:00 - 18:00

Adresa: Kostelní 42, Praha 7, 178 00

for ZTP holders – there is the reduced entrance fee

ZTP/P - free entry with accompaniment

Admission fees

Full price	280 CZK
Reduced	150 CZK
Children 6-15 let	60 CZK
Family admission	560 CZK
School Groups	60 CZK / per student Accompanying teachers get free admission

The NTM Center for Building Heritage in Plasy

Pivovarská 5, 331 01 Plasy

Open April to October

The NTM Railway Depository in Chomutov

Chernovická, Chomutov

Open April to October

1. How did it all start?

The National Technical Museum is the largest technical museum in the Czech Republic and one of the oldest and most important technical museums in the world. In 1862, Vojtěch Náprstek laid the foundations of the collections, while the museum was founded in 1908 in Prague, and its collections gradually grew over time. In the 1930s, the museum began to build its own new building in Letná according to the design of architect Milan Babuška. During the war, the completed museum building was taken over by the occupation administration of the Protectorate, so the first exhibitions were opened here in 1948. However, the museum, which was nationalised in 1951, was still only able to use one-third of the building on a long-term basis. After 1989, it was decided to use the entire building for the museum, and after ten years of renovation that began in 2003, the museum building was finally completed and the new permanent exhibitions fully installed in 2013.

2. What is the museum like today?

Currently, the National Technical Museum is an allowance organization of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and fulfills the functions of a national museum institution by managing around 76,000 collection items. Its collections document the development of science, technology and industry in the Czech lands and are kept in several depositories. They are the basis for the museum’s permanent exhibitions and scientific activities. Specialists can visit the museum's professional library and archival research room. The extensive exhibition activity of the museum is complimented by a number of accompanying programs and events, as well as educational activities that are prepared mainly for primary and secondary school pupils and families with children.

3. Letná carousel

The museum also manages the Letná carousel from 1894, making it one of the oldest floor carousels in the world, which has undergone a historic renovation, including the 19 horses for riding. In 2015, NTM opened its first branch outside of Prague – the Center for Building Heritage in Plasy with an extensive exhibition of building heritage and spaces for organising craft workshops and professional meetings.

4. The Summer season at the NTM

During the summer season, the museum makes accessible its Railway Depository in Chomutov, where the largest state collection of rolling stock in the Czech Republic is on display. For a modern presentation of the railway and electrical engineering collections, the National Technical Museum is preparing the new Railway and Electrical Engineering Museum on the premises at the Masaryk Railway Station in Prague, which should be opened to the public in 2028.

5. Collections

Over the course of more than 100 years, the National Technical Museum has built up extensive collections that document the development of many technical fields, the natural and exact sciences and industry in the territory of today's Czech Republic. Around 6,000 objects are on display in the museum's more than 25 permanent exhibitions, i.e. less than 10 per cent of its overall collection. Other objects are presented by the museum in its temporary exhibition projects. Among the exhibits on display, visitors will find many important objects, including 9 objects included on the list of national cultural monuments.

6. Unique exhibits

Among the unique exhibits are the oldest automobile produced in the Czech Republic, the NW Präsident; the Tatra 80 car used by President T. G. Masaryk; the famous Tatra 87 used by the travellers Hanzelka and Zikmund; the oldest preserved steam locomotive Kladno from 1855; the saloon car of Emperor František Josef; Kašpar’s JK Blériot system airplane; 3 globally unique military aircraft from the First World War: the Russian Anatra Anasal, the American LWF Model V Tractor and the Austrian Knoller CII; and the world's oldest surviving Bugatti and Audi cars. These exhibits can be seen in the Transportation exhibition, which is the NTM’s most popular exhibition. It presents the entire historical development of automobile, motorcycle, bicycle, air and ship transport and, in smaller exhibits, also the history of railway transport and the development of firefighting equipment in the Czech lands.

7. The most valuable exhibits

Among the most valuable objects are the sextants made by Jost Bürgi and Erasmus Habermel along with the astronomical clock made by Engelbert Seige, which are displayed in the Astronomy exhibition. Among the objects in the Household Appliances exhibition there are objects from the collection of Vojta Náprstek, which he gathered in the second half of the 19^th century, and whose legacy the NTM proudly continues.

8. Other unique collections

Visitors will find other unique items in the exhibitions of photography, the measurement of time, architecture, printing, chemistry, and metallurgy. One rarity within the whole of Europe is a faithful model of an ore and coal mine. The museum manages the largest collection of rolling stock in our country, which can be seen mainly in the NTM’s Railway Depository in Chomutov, and occasionally during events for the public, where some of these exhibition pieces are shown in operation.