Prague Museum Night 2025: Discover the Quirky Collections of Charles University!

This Saturday June 14 2025, from 6:00 p.m. until midnight, we will witness the exciting second edition of Prague Museum Night, following its revival last year, which is organized by the Museum of Prague. Once again, the main Museum building in Florence will serve as the central hub for the event. This year, 61 different places from 48 cultural institutions will welcome visitors. Additionally, in collaboration with the Prague City Transport Company (DPP) and ROPID, the Museum of Prague will offer improved tram and bus services along with vouchers for Nextbike shared urban bicycle rides.

The Museum of Prague, along with DPP, has arranged enhanced public transportation specifically for the event. This includes 3 Tram lines 33, 34, 35 and one bus number 888. The area in front of the main Museum building in Florence will feature a special program, decorated on pleasant weather days with a large model of the Moon named Lunalon, which will be provided to the museum and inflated for this occasion by the Brno Observatory and Planetarium.

Mummies, skulls, faces, or a pathological collection in the museum of man

During this well-liked Museum Night, many places that are typically not open to the public will participate. You can discover unique collections in the buildings of the Faculty of Science of Charles University. A favorite among visitors is the Hrdlička Museum of Man (Viničná 7), which hosts a permanent exhibition covering themes like human evolution, individual development, pathology, and death. This exhibition is designed for those with a strong stomach. You’ll find over 4,000 items, including Egyptian mummies and trepanned skulls, showing the first surgeries done in prehistoric eras. The palaeopathological collection has skeletal remains that display various diseases and injuries of people from the 16th to 18th centuries. Moreover, you can explore a collection of bone pathologies and anomalies from the end of the 19th and the start of the 20th century, often found in urban burial sites and ossuaries. After experiencing this intriguing collection, casts of faces won’t seem quite so frightening… For these reasons, the museum is not ideal for children under 12 years old.

The only Carnotaurus in the Czech Republic

The Faculty of Science at Charles University also features the Chlupac Museum of Earth History (Albertov 6). The University Museum was formed from reorganized collections from the Institute of Geology and Palaeontology. It focuses on teaching and research, emphasizing the evolution of planet Earth from both inanimate and animate perspectives. The collection targets specialists and serves as a research and documentation center. A highlight of this fascinating exhibit is the eight-meter skeleton of a Carnotaurus dinosaur from Argentina’s Upper Cretaceous period, which is notably the only one in the Czech Republic. You can also view unique fossils and a distinctive display of exceptionally preserved fauna from the Lower Devonian Nebotriassic period, including fish and reptiles.

Bugs, crayfish, snails, and various insects in the Botanical Garden

Anyone with an interest in wildlife or entomology shouldn’t miss the open Great Invertebrate Exhibition 2025 at the UK Botanical Garden. Unique and rarely seen creatures have temporarily settled here! Just until June 15 (the exhibition will be open during Museum Night), this unique promotional and educational event is happening at the Na Slupi Botanical Garden, coming for the fifth time thanks to the experts and students of the Faculty of Philosophy of Charles University, together with the Natural History Department of the National Museum and under the support of the Czech Entomological Society. Visitors can expect over 300 species of live invertebrates from the Czech Republic, Europe, and exotic areas, featuring choppers, Pokoutníků or vodouchů to crayfish, Ladybugs, and splešt’ule… There will also be a section displaying invertebrates found in our homes along with a collection of molluscs from Central Europe. In the aquariums, you’ll also have a chance to see jepica larvae, divers, and dragonflies, while terrariums will exhibit goldenrod beetles, Mantis, slipper, feeds, spiders, and various scavengers. You’ll find mole crickets, crickets, grasshoppers, and a whole assortment of crawfish. Visitors are particularly captivated by large beetles such as the common cuckold or the smutnil Cherry. A notable rarity is the Carpathian bluebell – a sizable blue slug that inhabits mountain forests; in our region, it can only be found in the White Carpathians and Beskydy Mountains, close to the Polish and Slovak borders.

Maps and globes at Albert

An additional captivating stop will be the Map collections of the Faculty of Science of Charles University (Albertov 6). This collection houses 130,000 map sheets, 3,000 atlases, 90 globes, and 10,000 other documents, making it an exceptional university collection for Central Europe due to the size and content of its holdings. The map collection is recognized as one of the largest and most significant in the Czech Republic. Aimed at science, research, and education, it serves academic staff and students of Charles University as well as the general and scholarly public. Noteworthy items include the oldest maps of the Czech Republic, maps created by J. A. Comenius, and Hollar’s veduta. A fascinating item is a small inflatable Cell paper globe from 1831, which can be folded into a compact box measuring 9 x 21 x 21 cm, but expands to 113 cm in diameter when inflated. Additionally, the collection features 90 globes made from various sizes and materials, the oldest dated map being one of Vienna by Augustin Hirschvogel from 1547.

Illustrative table of elements and various minerals

You will find a very informative periodic table of the elements in the chemistry department building at Albertov (Hlavova 8). This exhibition showcases 80 samples of chemical elements , including highly reactive cesium and unique crystalline forms of metal calcium, europium, sulfur, among others. Each cell of the table is illuminated, and by connecting to a touchscreen, the entire table can interactively showcase trends in properties of elements such as melting points or electronegativity, along with the biological significance of the elements and the year they were discovered.

Founded in 1775, the University of Karl-Ferdinand included the c. k. cabinet of natural sciences, known as the Museum naturae Pragense. Today, its collection boasts over 22,000 items, located in two rooms on the first floor of the Geology and Geography building (Albertov 6). With few alterations, the exhibition maintains its original, visually stunning layout, which gives it not only remarkable educational and scientific value but also significant historical importance. In addition to a systematic collection of minerals, visitors can expect to find a collection of synthetic crystals and 272 tektites (mostly woltawines).