MODERN PRAGUE.
Prague has all the qualities to charm, not only as a mediaeval city but also as one of the most handsome and progressive modern towns of Europe.
Many of the institutions founded in Prage in the course of the last Century are certain to interest American and British traveller.
One of the most important modern buildings is the Museum of the Kingdom of Bohemia on the upper area of the Václavské náměstí (St. Wenceslaus Square), not far from the modern hotels of “Archduke Stephen (Štěpán)“ and “Golden Goose“ (Zlatá husa) The Museum contains many valuable relics of the past of Bohemia and constitutes the most important monuments of the resurrection of Bohemian nation in the 19th Century. The largest room, so called “Pantheon“ is used for meetings of the Bohemian Academy of Letters, Science and Art.
The principal Art gallery and Concert Hall so called “Rudolphinum“, on the banks of Vltava and near the ancient Jewish Cemetery, ,_St_Nicholas_Church.jpg)
St. Nicolas Church.
contains a valuable collection of old and modern Bohemian Masters.
Opposite the “Rudolphinum“ is the Museum of Industrial Art. There is a splendid collection of arts and industry for which Bohemians have been famous, in porcelain, tiles, enamels, wood-carving etc., also a unique collection of Bohemian Glass.
In the Ethnographic Museum (Kinský Garden) are collections of brilliant peasant costumes, laces, embroideries, enamelling, pottery, unrivalled for rarity, extent and value. There are specimens of furniture from houses in various parts of Bohemia, Moravia, and Northern Hungary and models of peasant dwellings etc.
Of special interest to visitors is the Náprstek’s Bohemian Industrial Museum, founded by late Vojta Náprstek who has resided many years in the United States of America, and was one of the leaders of the national democratic movement in Bohemia. The Museum has largest English library in Middle Europe and there are here the rooms of the American Ladies Club.