115 years ago, the Applied Arts Museum was opened

Prague - The Museum of Applied Arts in Prague (UMPRUM), which was officially opened 115 years ago on November 18, 1900, collects in its exhibits the connection of utility with beauty. In its extensive collections, it preserves glass, photography, clothing, toys, posters, jewelry, porcelain, tapestry, and furniture, as well as objects made of synthetic materials. The foundation of the museum's collection was provided in 1906 by entrepreneur and patron Vojtěch Lanna along with the later bequeathed collection of Gustav Pazourek.

An example and inspiration for the Czechs was the establishment of the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry, opened in Vienna in 1864. The decision to establish a separate museum in Prague was made in 1885 by the board of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which remained its owner until nationalization. The representative building in the Neo-Renaissance style, located in close proximity to the Jewish cemetery, was designed by architect Josef Schulz. Currently, the museum is undergoing a major reconstruction and is expected to reopen to visitors in 2017.

Although the main building of the museum is currently closed, UPM is making efforts to present its collections in other venues. Until the middle of this year, the Municipal House hosts the exhibition Art Nouveau/Vital Arts 1900, featuring decorative arts from the 1900 World's Fair in Paris, as well as glasswork, ceramics, posters, photographs, period furniture, fashion, and jewelry. The exhibition includes works by Alphonse Mucha, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jan Kotěra, František Drtikol, Jules Chéret, Vojtěch Preissig, Tiffany, and many others.

From December 3, a new long-term exhibition of Czech Cubism will be opened at the house U Černé Matky Boží. It will showcase furniture sets as well as individual pieces by prominent Czech architects such as Pavel Janák, Josef Gočár, Josef Chochola, Vlastislav Hofman, and Otakar Novotný. Czech Cubist architecture will be presented through projections of designs and realizations, which, together with the exhibited furniture, represent a unique global phenomenon. The collections will be supplemented by period ceramics, glass, metal jewelry, posters, applied graphics, wallpapers, and selected works of Cubist painting by Emil Filla, Bohumil Kubišta, Josef Čapek, Václav Špála, Otokar Kubín, and sculptures by Otto Gutfreund.

The Gallery of Josef Sudek remains open in Prague's Úvoz and the museum's branches outside Prague in the castle in Kamenice nad Lipou, in Klášterec nad Ohří, and in the Textile Museum in Česká Skalice.