Municipal House and Mucha Museum

We started our day with a visit to our local Church of Our Lady before Tyn, built in the 15-16th c.  It houses the tomb of Tycho Brahe, the Danish astronomer who died here suddenly in 1601 while working for the Emperor Rudolph II. His death is somewhat controversial (check Wiki if you are interested).  Next the Municipal House which we had stumbled upon during our first evening walk.  We took the 11AM tour of this amazing Art Nouveau masterpiece.  Normally the tour is given in English and Czech, but there were no Czechs among us, so it was English-only, a time saver.

Detail from the Municipal house

Built between 1905 and 1912 as a cultural institution and symbol of Czech nationalism during the period prior to 1918 when they were ruled by the Hapsburgs, it includes the work of the major artists of the country.  The largest room is Smetana Concert Hall, but many of the smaller rooms rival it for elegance.  The building has political significance too, since the Czechoslovakian Declaration of Independence was announced from here in 1918.  The building includes a restaurant and three cafes.

A rare lunch out.

At noon we headed for the nearby Mucha Museum.  No photos allowed there unfortunately.  Allphonse Mucha is the most popular Czech artist.  His fame began with a poster of a Sarah Bernhardt performance in 1895. She was so pleased that she hired him for future posters as well.  His work included paintings, designs for jewelry, book illustrations, walllpaper etc.  His most famous work is the monumental 20 canvases of The Slav Epic on view in the town of Moravsky Krumlov.  Mucha's Art Nouveau style is not to everyone's liking--lovely women with flowing hair surrounded by flowers.  But we both enjoyed it and this small museum, including a 20 minute movie in English.


Hungry now, we returned to the Municipal House cafe to enjoy a relatively authentic meal out--the food and venue were quite a treat.  We wanted to squeeze in one more museum today, so a 20 minute walk brought us to the City Museum.  Actually there was not too much of interest here except for the model of Prague in the 19th century.  A McDOnald's coffee break and then back to our apartment for a needed rest.  We have bought tickets to a concert at the Smetana Concert Hall for 8PM--an unusual evening event for us.