Hradec Museum will reopen after renovation for 100 million CZK on November 1

Hradec Králové - The Art Nouveau building of the East Bohemia Museum (MVČ) in Hradec Králové will reopen to the public on November 1st after repairs and a two-year closure. The museum will offer visitors five exhibitions. A new feature will be a visitor route leading to a rooftop terrace with a view of the city. The museum shop will be expanded and modernized. The museum's spokesperson, Veronika Hepnarová, informed ČTK about this today. The repairs to the museum, which is a national cultural monument, began last May and cost over 100 million crowns.

The theme of the main exhibition titled "Around Hradec or Hradec Residents on Bicycles" will be cycling in Hradec Králové. "Visitors can look forward not only to unique velocipedes that people have invented throughout the history of bicycles, but especially to the period of the First Republic when the bicycle became an integral part of almost every Hradec family," said Hepnarová. The exhibition will also present local manufacturers and sellers of bicycles, mechanics, and entrepreneurs who dedicated themselves to bicycles decades ago.

The exhibition "WHO, if not us, WHEN, if not now" will remind visitors of the revolutionary period in 1989 in Hradec Králové. It will feature photographs and historical documents from Hradec Králové and other towns in the Hradec Králové Region.

At the exhibition "The Secret of the Bird Axe," the museum will present a silver-decorated battle axe from the 9th century. "This is an artifact that has no equivalent in Central Europe. Its unique decoration features flying birds," the spokesperson stated.

The exhibition "Nature from the Depositories" will commemorate the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Natural History Museum of the Agricultural Institute in Hradec Králové. It will allow visitors to glimpse into the period installations of the former museum. The exhibition will show a selection from the original collections of natural history items, such as shells and mollusk shells, exotic insects, herbariums, and fossil finds.

The history of resistance in Hradec Králové will be highlighted by the exhibition "Operation Barium - World War II and the Hradec Region." The exhibition will include an exhibit of items related to Czechoslovak paratroopers sent from Britain for operations in the Protectorate.

The museum exhibition, which will occupy two floors and is to be based on the architectural elements of the city, is not yet completed. The city has not yet managed to find a company that would create the exhibition for an estimated 15 million crowns. Only one bid came in for the first competition, which started in January, but at a high price. The city canceled the competition. No company applied for the second competition announced in April. Last week, the city initiated market consultations, after which it hopes to announce a third tender.

During the reconstruction, builders repaired the areas in front of the building, replaced windows, and the building has a new facade that matches the original in color. Experts restored the fountain in front of the museum and renewed two seven-meter sculptures on the front of the building.

The owner of the building and the investor in the repair and exhibition is the city, while the East Bohemia Museum is established by the Hradec Králové Region. The museum building was built based on the design of architect Jan Kotěra between 1909 and 1912. The museum was declared a national cultural monument in 1995.