The Czech Museum of Music

Currently, among the most significant long-term tasks of the Czech Museum of Music is the revitalization of its main building in Karmelitská Street, where the museum has resided for 13 years. Experience has revealed the need to make the permanent exhibition more attractive for visitors and to open the building more to the public. In 2016, the first concept for changes to the building was submitted.  In connection with the need to free the premises in Karmelitská Street, the Central Depository in the former barracks in Litoměřice is being adapted to better suit the museum's needs, and a utilization plan for the extension for paper-item collections is being prepared.   The revitalization of the Bedřich Smetana Memorial in Jabkenice is also being prepared. The restoration of the frescos in the building of the Antonín Dvořák Museum in Villa America was begun.
2016 was the first year of operation of the Methodical Centre for the Documentation, Conservation and Preservation of Musical Instruments.  The project’s website was created, to which methodological and expert articles and an auxiliary database were gradually added.  The basic register of collections in the Czech Republic has been started, so far only in the form of correspondence. 
In 2016, the last ecclesiastical property restitution cases were resolved. Some of the objects concerned were bought with the help of a subsidy from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic (Augustinians - Lnáře), and some were stored for the long term in the museum (Premonstratensians – Želiv).
The main exhibition in Karmelitská Street focused on the violin player Josef Suk. 13 small exhibitions were realized within the cycle Personalities – anniversaries - attractions. The Antonín Dvořák and Bedřich Smetana Museums presented new aspects of the composers’ lives and works in their exhibitions. Last year, the Czech Museum of Music donated space to the National Museum Library, for the exhibition project To whom did they belong, and to the Historical Museum, for the exhibition When the Emperor is Dying.
Guided tours were prepared for visitors, and special music programmes for children and schools (which are becoming increasingly popular). In August 2016, the third annual Barrel Organ is Alive festival was held, to which barrel organ players from all around the Czech Republic and abroad come; it is hugely popular with audiences and the media.
The most significant event of 2016, which took place in late February and early March, was the presentation of the discovery of the hitherto unknown composition by W. A. Mozart, A. Salieri and Cornetti, with libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte - the cantata Per l Ricuperata Salite di Ofelia. The composition was formerly considered lost and was actually found in the collection of the Czech Museum of Music.

Selection of articles from the news portal of the National Museum Museum 3000

A discovery of world importance!

A rare print, until now considered lost, has been discovered in the collection of the Department of Music History in the National Museum - Czech...

The Slavětín Altar

On the occasion of the 700th anniversary of the birth of Charles IV, the National Museum has prepared an exhibition that will transport visitors to...

The National Museum’s new exhibition, When the Emperor is Dying, commemorates the last journey of the King and Emperor Charles IV.

The National Museum is concluding the celebrations of the 700th anniversary of the birth of Charles IV. And so, in the Czech Museum of Music at Malá...