People can view the future residence of the Museum of Memory of the 20th Century in Prague

Prague - Today, people can visit the House of Pages in Hradčany, Prague, where after reconstruction an exhibition of the Museum of 20th Century Memories is expected to take place. The adaptation of the Renaissance palace space could start next year, and the museum focused on totalitarian regimes in Czechoslovakia could then fully open to the public in 2023. The museum was established by the capital city.

For those interested, the palace on Kanovnická Street will be open today from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. In addition to guided tours, they can participate in discussions about the form of the museum's exhibition or the presentation of Jiří Sozanský's book Post Scriptum. There will also be an exhibition titled Year of Wonders, mapping events that led to the collapse of the Soviet bloc thirty-one years ago, and an exhibition inspired by Kafka's life and the tragic fates of his sisters, reported CTK spokesperson Vít Hofman.

The establishment of the museum was approved by Prague city councilors in September two years ago. It was formally established on November 17, 2019, to mark the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, and last year it began organizing its first events and exhibitions.

According to recent information from Prague councilor Hana Kordová Marvanová (STAN) and museum director Jan Kalous, the House of Pages should include exhibition spaces, a lecture hall, a library, and a room for recording testimonies of witnesses. A statue of Marshal Ivan Konev, which originally stood in Prague 6, is also expected to be placed there.

The museum now has a volumetric study completed, as well as a structural-historical survey of the building's condition, and it is waiting for the completion of a construction study for the transformation of the palace. Subsequently, it will seek a contractor through a competition. The museum has already acquired a number of exhibits for its collections. Alongside the statue of Konev, there is, for example, the work shirt of Jan Palach from the Soviet Union or a tin box from the 1950s in which films capturing Rudolf Slánský were kept.

The House of Pages was gradually built from the 16th century, but since 2008, the one-story building with four wings, an inner courtyard, and an adjacent garden has been empty, and the Prague leadership has been unsuccessfully searching for its use. Last summer, Prague city councilors decided that the Museum of 20th Century Memories should be located here. "After the pages, the impoverished residents of Hradčany, the kindergarten, and most recently the Department of the Architect of the Capital City of Prague, there will now be an exhibition reminding us of two major totalitarian regimes of the last century, following the renovations," Hofman added.