Museum of Industry

The Industrial Museum is a separate organizational unit of the National Technical Museum (NTM) that was established in February 2012 by merging five collection departments: mining and metallurgy, engineering, chemistry, home technology, and the textile industry, along with the department of exact sciences. Each department is managed by one or two professional curators, and the Industrial Museum is preparing to implement three new exhibitions at NTM—exhibitions on metallurgy, mining, and time measurement.

The Industrial Museum (PM) is a separate organizational unit of NTM, formed in February 2012 by merging five collection departments: mining and metallurgy, engineering, chemistry, home technology, and the textile industry.

Each department is managed by one or two professional curators, and the Industrial Museum currently presents its collections to visitors in five permanent exhibitions: Mining, Metallurgy, Home Technology, Time Measurement, and Chemistry.

Mining and Metallurgy

In 1910, two years after the establishment of the Technical Museum for the Kingdom of Bohemia (today's NTM), the basic specialized collection groups of this museum were created, including the mining and metallurgy group, with a program to build a basic collection documenting the current state and history of the mining and metallurgy fields.

The first mining exhibition, covering an area of 230 m², was opened to the public in 1912 at the Schwarzenberg Palace in Hradčany, where the Prague Technical Museum was then located. Part of the mining exhibition showcased an unusual design imitating a mining workplace for its time and received a great response from the public. The metallurgy exhibition opened in 1913 in a more modest area of 88 m².

In 1941, the museum had to vacate the Schwarzenberg Palace, and the museum's collections, including mining and metallurgy collections, were moved to the Invalidovna in Karlín, where they were exhibited within limited spatial constraints. It was only after 1945 that the museum could move to its new building in Letná, Prague 7, where the mining exhibition was opened in 1952—a model of a coal mine, and a year later, an ore mine with a tour route over 500 m long, leading through excavations and mining corridors. The exhibition on the history of metallurgy, focusing on the development of ironworking, was opened only in 1960.

In 1964, the original mining and metallurgy group of the museum was split into two separate units that began to organize scientific activities independently in their respective fields. This laid the foundation for a long-standing tradition of seminars on the history of mining and metallurgy. Both departments presented their collections through a number of successful traveling exhibitions domestically and abroad. In 1998, the original subject arrangement was re-established, and both departments were merged into a single unit called the Department of Mining and Metallurgy as part of organizational changes at NTM.

The year 2002 was a turning point for the entire NTM when the August flood inundated, among other things, the metallurgy collections stored in the Karlín Invalidovna's depository. Fortunately, the collection of artistic cast iron stored on the upper floor of this building and the mining collections in the out-of-town depository in Čelákovice were spared. For the mining and metallurgy departments, this meant not only relocating the affected and unaffected collections from the Invalidovna but also ensuring their new placement and restoration.

During the reconstruction of the museum's main building, which began in 2006, the permanent exhibition "History of Iron" was dismantled, as well as the exhibitions on mining, excluding the coal and ore mines. The new exhibitions on mining and metallurgy were completed and opened to the public in 2013.

The metallurgy exhibition is the fifth presentation of the metallurgy collection at NTM in historical order. Its main part showcases the technical and historical development of metallurgy in five sections. This installation includes a timeline with the most important milestones in the history of metallurgy running the entire length of the exhibition. Over 280 collection items are displayed in the exhibition, some of which have been loaned. The exhibition also features interactive activities for young people, including a computer game aimed at smelting iron in a blast furnace, a quiz involving weighing balls made of different materials, and the opportunity to take photos in metallurgical attire.

The mining exhibition presents a chronological overview of the history of mineral raw material extraction from the Paleolithic to the present day. Contemporary mining technology is represented by products donated by Czech manufacturers and photographs from our mines. Mining techniques, extraction methods, and other specifics of mining are explained through multimedia presentations on LCD monitors. Complex diagrams of extraction methods and intricate mining technology are clarified through 3D animations. The exhibition is integrally connected to a model of an ore and coal mine, which primarily presents technology from the 1950s but also includes some exhibits from the early 20th century.

Engineering and Chemistry

The current Department of Engineering and Chemistry evolved from the original collection group of mechanical engineering, which was established simultaneously with the founding of the museum association in 1908 and gathered all products of an engineering character—thus including those that today form the basis of the collections of the transportation, metallurgy, or railway museum departments.

At the time the museum opened to the public in 1910, the mechanical engineering and textile groups had the most members and were also among the largest in terms of the number of exhibits. Prominent experts from industry and universities (Prof. Ing. A. Živna, B. Šlechta) led these collection groups. Even before World War I, many valuable technical artifacts were acquired for the collections, such as Hiller's steam engine or Marcus's internal combustion engine. Exhibition activities also developed, and the interwar period brought an increase in the number of collection items.

The war years meant a decline in museum activities. The collections had to be moved to the Invalidovna in Karlín, and the unfinished building in Letná was confiscated by the Protectorate administration. Despite these difficulties, public activities were launched in 1942, leading to some interesting acquisitions, such as a steam engine that powered the National Theatre's power plant.

The organizational structure of the museum has changed several times from the early 1950s to the present, affecting the field of mechanical engineering as well. In 1954, a new department of light industry was established, which was merged in 1963 with the departments of mechanical engineering and textile production. Two years later (1965), the exhibition "Time" was opened to the public, which was significantly renovated and supplemented in 1983 with electronic devices and served NTM visitors until the museum was closed for renovation in the fall of 2006. Since 2012, a new modernized permanent exhibition on Time Measurement has been accessible to visitors.

In 1974, a separate department for consumer industries was established with collection funds for printing, textiles, and home technology. In 1977, an exhibition on "Driving Machines" was opened on a site near the main building, which was reinstalled four years later in newly adjusted spaces. Currently, most of the mechanical engineering collection is stored in NTM depositories, but several selected pieces are exhibited in other permanent exhibitions. A permanent exhibition on driving machines (engines and steam engines) is planned as part of the Museum of Railways and Electrical Engineering project, which will be accessible to the public in 2028 in the former workshops of Masaryk Station.