Independent Czechoslovak State Day is on October 28, celebrating the country’s declaration of independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918. A national holiday in Czechia, we spent the day visiting four branches of the Národní Galerie Praha (National Gallery of Prague, or NGP): Schwarzenberský Palác (Schwarzenberg Palace); Šternberský Palác (Sternberg Palace); Veletržní Palác (Fair Trade Palace); and, Klášter Sv. Anežky České (Convent of St. Agnes of Bohemia).
It took us seven hours and seven tram rides to visit these four museums in one day. But it was well worth it because the permanent exhibitions in the museums are free on Independence Day. Otherwise, a 10-day ticket to visit all of the branches and exhibitions would have cost us each 680 Kč (about $30).
At the end of the day, Stephanie and I agreed that a 10-day ticket would have been worth buying had we not had this opportunity to see the museums for free.
Thankfully none of the other NGP branches in Prague (notably the Kinský Palác and Salm Palác) had permanent exhibitions on display at the time. Going to six or more museums on one day might would have been too much.
We were a little bit apprehensive about what to expect on free day at the NGP. Our recent experiences with free days in Italy (Naples and Rome) suggested that the museums might be absolutely suffocated by visitors, with lines exceeding hundreds of people and temporary closures being enforced.
To get to Schwarzenberg Palace, our first destination, we walked through a portion of Prague Castle, which was already very crowded. It was about ten minutes before the museum’s 10:00 AM opening time, and we wondered how long the line to enter would be. More importantly, how long must the line be for us to give up and buy a tickets on another day.
Never mind. We were the first in line. When the doors to Schwarzenberg Palace opened at 10:00 AM, there were five of us in line. Not one hundred, fifty, or even ten. Just five.
The permanent exhibition in Schwarzenberg Palace is Old Masters, consisting of Renaissance and Baroque era paintings. The quality of the works is phenomenal, even if not our preference. The gallery is spread over three floors and took us about 40 minutes to see it all.
Directly across from Schwarzenberg Palace is the second museum of the day, Sternberg Palace. A continuation of the works from Old Masters, the Sternberg Palace collection, aptly titled Old Masters II, contains Italian paintings from the 14th and 15th centuries, Dutch and Flemish paintings from the 15th to 18th centuries, as well as a few German, Austrian, French, and Spanish paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries. This exhibition is much more to our liking.
Perhaps the most fascinating work in Sternberg Palace is the massive Passion Altarpiece from Gӧttingen, by Hans Rappon, 1499:
For some reason the brochure for Sternberg Palace does not include a map or floor plan. Granted, the collection is only on one floor. But we completely missed a passageway between two rooms (hidden behind a floating wall) and almost skipped half the exhibition. Thankfully an alert employee noticed we were walking in the wrong direction, oblivious to the fact that the exhibition continued the other way. She was kind enough to get us going in the right direction.
I suspect this happens fairly frequently and employees know to look out for visitors who miss the passageway.
A little under an hour later we headed out of Sternberg Palace and made our way across town to the Fair Trade Palace. But first we took a lunch break at Bageterie Boulevard, a sandwich place with locations all over town. Nothing fancy, just quick and simple sandwiches, fries, cokes, and a place to sit for a bit.
The largest of the NGP branches, the Fair Trade Palace hosts exhibitions over five floors. The building is described as a “gem of Czech Functionalist architecture” built in the 1920s. Functionalist is a good description for what is essentially a large rectangle around two atriums.
At the time of our visit, three of the floors contained permanent exhibitions and two housed special exhibitions. The special exhibitions are only available with a paid ticket (even on days the permanent exhibitions are free). We considered buying separate tickets for the special exhibitions, but in the end decided against it. Three large floors to wander through was enough.
Completely by happenstance, because we took an elevator to the top floor and worked our way down, Stephanie and I managed to visit the permanent exhibitions in chronological order.
First, Art of the Long Century, from 1796 to 1918, essentially picks up in time after Old Masters II. This exhibition showcases European art from this time period, including pieces by Gustav Klimt, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Alfred Sisley. This is probably our favorite permanent exhibition in the NGP.
Next we visited The First Czechoslovak Republic, with a focus on Czech artists and works from 1918 to 1938. Also included are works from the same time period by other famous Europeans, such as Vincent van Gogh and Pablo Picasso.
Lastly we strolled through End of the Black-and-White Era, a collection of works from 1939 to present. As best we can tell, the name of the exhibition is derived from the idea of not imposing a name, style, or ideology on art created during this time. The brochure describes it as a “testimony of the times”. We’d describe it as more modern and contemporary art that is not to our tastes. I think we walked through this exhibition without stopping once.
After leaving the Fair Trade Palace we had to decide whether to visit Convent of St. Agnes of Bohemia. We were worn out and not particularly enthusiastic about seeing medieval religious art. But we thought the building would be interesting and it was on the way back to our Airbnb. After two cokes and a large candy bar, we were ready for one more museum.
The Convent was founded in the early 1200s by Premyslid Princess St Agnes of Bohemia. Remarkably the core layout of the convent remains intact to this day.
As expected, the core of the exhibition is religious art, Medieval Art in Bohemia and Central Europe 1200-1550. It is surprisingly great. Between the quality of the works and the layout of the displays, we enjoyed this exhibition much more than anticipated and did not rush through it.
On the ground floor visitors can tour the convent and church buildings, taking in the architecture, and then head outside to a garden, sculptures, and café. There is even a room for kids’ art activities.
Exhausted after a day of sightseeing, we headed to the closest tram stop to commence the journey to our Airbnb. Along the way we detoured into a convenience store to pick up beers for the evening. Even though it was a long and tiring day, we essentially saved $60 by visiting these galleries on a free day.
Okay, we really saved $55 after paying for our beer. Thinking about it, we might have saved enough to pay for most of beer tab while in Prague. Not bad!
If we had to choose one word to sum up the NGP, it would be exceptional.
Garrett and Stephanie
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