The free weekend attracted 28,000 people to the Prague National Gallery

Prague - Up to 28,000 people were attracted over the weekend by free entry to all permanent exhibitions and displays of the National Gallery in Prague (NG). The event took place on the occasion of the 211th anniversary of its founding, and according to spokesperson Petra Jungwirthová, it achieved its purpose - it served as an incentive for visiting the collections and strengthened the positive relationship of the public towards art.
Although the National Gallery allows visitors to view collections and exhibitions for free every first Wednesday of the month from 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM, which also attracts people's interest, the weekend "open house" was additionally made more attractive by a number of accompanying activities. For example, the opportunity to view the collections with a guided expert or many art workshops. For instance, from the Museum of Czech Cubism in the House at the Black Mother of God, many children and adults left this afternoon equipped with a mirror inspired by cubist forms that they created themselves. The world around them was broken down into many small surfaces, and their faces transformed into a cubist portrait.
"Around 8,000 people visited the Trade Fair Palace on Saturday and Sunday, approximately half of this number viewed the exhibition titled Silesia, a Pearl in the Czech Crown in the Waldstein Riding School. Even there, where around 350 visitors usually come per day, three guided tours took place," Jungwirthová told ČTK. In addition to local visitors who took advantage of the free entry, this opportunity particularly surprised foreign tourists who were happy to save some euros.
Many people visited the Zbraslav Castle, where they had the last chance today to see the exhibition of Caucasian carpets, extended specifically due to the NG anniversary. It was prepared in collaboration with the Moravian Museum in Brno, and the Caucasian carpets were presented in the Czech Republic for the very first time. "About 2,000 people came to the Kinský Palace and nearly 5,000 to the Sternberg Palace at Prague Castle for the permanent exhibition of European art from antiquity to the end of the Baroque," added Jungwirthová.
The gallery exhibits old art in the Sternberg Palace, at St. George's Convent, and in the Agnes Convent, Czech landscape painting from the 17th to the 20th century in the Kinský Palace, 19th, 20th, and 21st-century art in the Trade Fair Palace, and Oriental art at Zbraslav Castle. The Museum of Czech Cubism in the House at the Black Mother of God is also part of the permanent exhibitions.
NG director Milan Knížák recently expressed his opinion that people should always have free access to the permanent exhibitions of this institution. According to him, free entry would change the public's approach to the gallery, cultivate general taste, and the increase in visitor numbers could be as much as two hundred percent. However, Knížák currently faces resistance from the Ministry of Culture - the cancellation of entry fees would require adding ten million crowns to the current annual state subsidy of around 210 million. According to the director, a larger influx of people wouldn’t necessitate new security measures. He considers free entry for permanent exhibitions; time-limited exhibitions, which represent about 20 percent, would still be charged.
Rather than an enormous influx of visitors to the NG exhibitions, its director hopes that the introduction of free entry will encourage people to return and get to know the collections better. "We want people to come back repeatedly; a person should live with art and make it a part of their life," stated Knížák.