Join the Festivities for International Museum Day – National Open-Air Museum!
The delightful month of May is a perfect time for a leisurely walk in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm. Guests will enjoy free entry to all three sections of the Wallachian Open-Air Museum – including the wooden town, the Wallachian village, and Mlýnská dolina. Visitors can explore the interiors of the buildings, and the technical facilities in Mlýnská dolina will be operating. All exhibits in the museum will also be completely free to access. At 4:00 pm, the exhibition titled ‘Photographers of the Wallachian Open-Air Museum’ will be launched. Through various photographs taken by the museum’s own photographers, attendees will delve into the evolution of the museum and the changes in the Wallachian area.
Those who are interested can also participate in Museum Day with free access to the only open-air museum in the region called the Czech Central Mountains, known as the Zubrnice Open-Air Museum. All guided tours (I, II, and III) within the Village Complex will be available.
Here, travelers will get to see the exhibition ‘Hops that Built Houses’. This display highlights hop cultivation in the outskirts of the Úštěk hop-growing area and shows how hop farming has influenced the design of local buildings and landscapes, alongside its decline due to changes in the community.
Visitors will have the chance to enjoy two exhibitions this year. In the House from Loubí, there’s an exhibition by Roman Řezáč titled Vertraue der Welt nicht – which translates to ‘Man, do not trust the world, for it is ever-changing’. On the upper level of the barn from Zadní Lhota, guests can uncover new viewpoints on historical rural architecture by viewing models and visualizations created by students from the Faculty of Architecture at the Czech Technical University in Prague, as well as those from the Czech Republic, France, and Canada. This will be part of an exhibition called ‘Zubrnice of Tomorrow’.
The Museum in the Vysočina Nature Reserve will offer free access to all three of its locations: Veselý Kopec, the registered site of Betlém in Hlinsko, and curious visitors can also see the usually closed water-powered forge, known as the water-powered hammer mill in Svobodné Hamry, which will be open to guests every Saturday throughout July and August.
Visitors can also explore three ongoing exhibitions – in Veselý Kopec, there is an exhibition focusing on net-making entitled ‘A Knot Here, a Knot There, or Net-Making in the Horácko Region’ and a fresh exhibition on rural spring traditions called ‘When Customs Bloom’. This exhibition has been available since the start of May and covers customs such as St. Philip and St. James’s Night, the raising and felling of the maypole, and festive gatherings known as ‘věnečky’. Additionally, visitors’ experience of the Hlinsko Nativity Scene will be enhanced by a new exhibition featuring artwork created by pupils of the Hlinsko Art School located in building no. 134.
On Monday, May 18, the Haná Museum in the open-air museum in Příkazy near Olomouc will also grant free access to patrons in celebration of International Museum Day. This museum serves as a unique example of traditional earthen folk architecture from the Haná region. Guests can appreciate three half-timbered barns from the 19th century, alongside a timber-framed barn from Skalička, which was relocated to the museum in the year 2022. An entire Haná farmstead, featuring residential and farming structures dating back to 1876, is also open for public viewing.
Nestled in the heart of Plzeň’s largest residential area, visitors will find tranquility in the Plzeň-Bolevec Open-Air Museum. This site has been a part of the National Open-Air Museum since the beginning of this year. The entire U Matoušů Farmstead complex stands as a remarkable example of the progress of rural folk architecture spanning the 18th to the 20th century. After a thoughtful restoration five years ago, this complex now welcomes visitors, bringing the history and traditions of our ancestors back to life.
