Náprstek Museum

In the heart of Prague you can explore the world of Asian, African and American cultures. The museum founder, Vojta Náprstek (1826–1894), was a Czech patriot, a benefactor and a champion of progress. His family brewery in Betlémské Square was transformed into a centre of Czech intellectual life, and Náprstek co-founded the Czech Ramblers Association. Later, when his ethnographic collections grew so large that the family brewery wasn’t large enough, he had an extension constructed that still bears his name – the Náprstek Museum.

The venue forms part of the National Museum’s permanent exhibitions, and the life and work of Vojta Náprstek forms a separate exhibition. The ground floor contains a library open to the public, a study area, a lecture theatre and a room where exhibitions on non-European cultures are regularly staged. The museum collections are exceptionally extensive; only a fraction is on display in the permanent exhibition. You’ll find the Culture of Australia and Oceania section on the third floor of the building. The display examines the ways of life of indigenous peoples of the Australian continent and of the islands of Melanesia, Polynesia and Micronesia. In three halls, items of Australian hunter-gatherer tribes are presented, as well as every day and ceremonial objects of farmers and fishermen, and cult and ritual objects.