The first major event in the newly renovated premises of the Ethnographic Museum of Pilsen will be the May Festival in the courtyard of the atrium of the Chotěšovský House. Visitors can look forward to them already on Tuesday, April 30, starting at 3 p.m.
After a three-year reconstruction, the Ethnographic Museum of Plzeň was opened in Plzeň on náměstí Republiky. | Video: Diary/Pavel Bouda
“After three years, it will be our sharp start to the public. There will be music and refreshments, and the first visitors will be able to view our new permanent exhibitions for free,” says Michal Chmelenský, head of the Ethnographic Museum.
Source: Diary/Pavel Bouda
Two visitor circuits are created from the permanent exhibitions. The first is devoted to the period 1830–1900 and shows the life of an individual from a rural environment from his birth to the end of his productive age, which he reached already in the bourgeois environment of Pilsen. The visitor gets to know the details of the school education system, the everyday life of growing up and the complexities of choosing a profession as well as individual livelihood options. There are also reminders of ways of spending free time in the city and evidence of rich social life. The second circuit is devoted to clothing and selected livelihoods in Pilsen and in the suburban areas of the Pilsen countryside.
However, the visitor will recognize the first changes immediately upon entering the museum premises. “The reception has moved closer to the entrance, so there will be no need to walk through a long passage to the cash desk. Visitor comfort has also increased, there is barrier-free access to the Chotěšovský House thanks to a new lift, and the exhibitions are modern with multimedia presentations,” Jiří Orna, director of the West Bohemian Museum in Pilsen, describes the main changes.
A silver treasure was found in Pilsen na Zábélé. A hundred medieval coins lay in the ground
The reconstruction of the museum building took place in both listed buildings, Gerlachovské and Chotěšovské. It was in his backyard that a waste pit was uncovered as part of the reconstruction work, which hid a later connection with the Pilsen underground. It is now the dominant feature of the entire backyard with its beautifully arranged cobblestone paving.
IN Gerlach House on the contrary, a mysterious space was discovered during the reconstruction works, which was not recorded in any plans or maps. “We actually fell into it and the question is what it was for. So we documented, covered and walled up the space. We left the revelation of its secret to the next generations,” Michal Chmelenský told Deník at the time. In the attic of the Gerlach house, in addition to the exhibition of folk clothes from the wider Pilsen region, you can also see the original baroque roof with typical St. Andrew’s crosses.
The total cost of the reconstruction, including the construction of new exhibits, reached 129 million crowns. Of this, less than 98 million were covered by subsidies from the European Regional Development Fund, and the rest was shared Pilsen Region and the Ministry for Regional Development.
