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postcards and posters. The exhibit goes<br />

on to show the aspects of daily life under<br />

commun<strong>is</strong>m, from propaganda at schools<br />

and work to empty shelves in stores, as<br />

the theme turns from ideal<strong>is</strong>tic dream<br />

to horrific reality. However, by far the<br />

most intense experience <strong>is</strong> watching the<br />

30-minute or so film near the end of the<br />

exhibition. The video presents clips from<br />

the Warsaw Pact invasion of 1968 and<br />

the Velvet Revolution of 1989. After half an hour of watching people of all ages and<br />

sexes brutally beaten by riot police on camera, suddenly <strong>you</strong>r own life won’t seem so<br />

bad. Open Monday to Sunday, 8 am – 9 pm.<br />

Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures,<br />

Address: Betlémské náměstí 1<br />

In 1826 the Fingerhut family bought the old Prague building “U Halánků” with a brewery<br />

and d<strong>is</strong>tillery which, within a matter of years, their older son Vojtěch was to make<br />

famous literally throughout the whole world. In 1848, after the overthrow of revolution<br />

in Vienna and Prague, Vojta Náprstek (1826 – 1894) sought refuge from police persecution<br />

<strong>for</strong> ten years in the United States, where he gained a lot of experience. Upon h<strong>is</strong><br />

return to the country, he tried to use th<strong>is</strong> knowledge to repay the Czech society. One<br />

of h<strong>is</strong> most important activities was the construction of the private Czech Industrial<br />

Museum, which was supposed to help underdeveloped Czech manufacturing. Be<strong>for</strong>e<br />

long, the museum and library became the centre of the Czech intellectual scene, and,<br />

thanks to Náprstek’s contacts among Czechs living outside the country, was even celebrated<br />

abroad. Apart from exhibits on things technical, the museum also accumulated<br />

ethnographic and art<strong>is</strong>tic artefacts, which Náprstek’s friends and travellers brought from<br />

all around the world. After h<strong>is</strong> death the museum became ethnographic, and after 1946<br />

its bearing was orientated purely towards non-European cultures.<br />

Top Coins and Fine Art,<br />

Address: Klimentská 6<br />

Top Coins and Fine Art presents an introduction to Australian Aboriginal Art. The gallery<br />

features examples of the several different styles of Aboriginal Art with work by<br />

over 100 different art<strong>is</strong>ts from all over the “Top End” of Australia, with many works<br />

by art<strong>is</strong>ts of the Central Western Desert of the Northern Territory Arnhem Land and<br />

the Tiwi Islands.<br />

DOX Centre <strong>for</strong> Contemporary Art<br />

Address: Poupětova 1, Praha 7 http://www.doxprague.org/en/<br />

Brand new modern art musem The DOX Centre was initiated in 2002 by Leoš Válka,<br />

along with several partners. The goal of th<strong>is</strong> initiative <strong>is</strong> to serve the wider public by<br />

creating a living arts centre, becoming a plat<strong>for</strong>m <strong>for</strong> the exhibition of Czech and<br />

international contemporary art.<br />

Museum Kampa,<br />

Address: U sovových mlýnů 2<br />

While the earliest surviving records mentioning<br />

the ex<strong>is</strong>tence of a flour-mill on<br />

Prague’s Kampa <strong>is</strong>land on the Vltava dates<br />

from 1393, there <strong>is</strong> no doubt that the facility<br />

had actually been establ<strong>is</strong>hed much<br />

earlier than that: scholarly research has traced it as far back as the tenth century, establ<strong>is</strong>hed<br />

by members of the Convent of Benedictine Nuns at Saint George’s. During the<br />

Hussite Revolution the mill was destroyed, and the prem<strong>is</strong>es subsequently passed into<br />

the hands of the municipality of the Prague Old Town. In 1478, the city fathers handed<br />

the site over to Václav Sova of Liboslav, who built a house with a hammer-mill and a<br />

flourmill. The restored mill was named after its new owner, a name it has retained to<br />

th<strong>is</strong> day (Sovovy mlýny). The old building now hosts a modern art gallery with a permanent<br />

collection of modern Central European art and many attractive exhibitions.<br />

Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art<br />

Address: Dukelských Hrdinů 47<br />

Kinský Palace<br />

Address: Staroměstské náměstí 12<br />

Museum of Decorative Arts<br />

Address: 17. l<strong>is</strong>topadu 2<br />

The Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague collects and preserves examples of h<strong>is</strong>torical<br />

and contemporary crafts, as well as applied arts and design.<br />

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