The Mucha Museum (in Czech, Muchovo Muzeum) is an art museum located in the New Town (in Czech, Nové Město), one of the historic districts of the city of Prague. In fact, the museum itself is housed in the Kaunicky Palace (in Czech, Kaunický Palác), a baroque building from the 18th century!

Inaugurated on February 13th, 1998, the Mucha Museum is the only museum in the world entirely dedicated to the life and work of the Czech artist Alphonse Mucha (or Alfons Maria Mucha), one of the main exponents of the Art Nouveau style!

So, do you want to know more about the Mucha Museum: Best Tips For Visiting In 2024? Keep reading!

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Brief History of the Mucha Museum

As I mentioned in the introduction, the Mucha Museum opened to the public in the late 1990s. With around fifty works of art on display, you can admire posters, oil paintings, drawings, pastels, photographs, and other personal objects that belonged to Alphonse Mucha.

Despite covering the life and work of the Czech artist in general, the Mucha Museum focuses mainly on his Parisian period, between 1887 and 1904. From this time, the set of posters that Alphonse Mucha created for the French actress Sarah Bernhardt stands out.

The Mucha Museum also includes an overview of his work studio, with pieces that adorned the Mucha family home in Prague, as well as a half-hour documentary about his life and work. Nowadays, the museum’s main collection is divided into seven distinct sections:

1. Decorative Panels (in Czech, Dekorativiní Panó)
2. Parisian Posters (in Czech, Pařížské Plakáty)
3. Decorative Documents (in Czech, Dekorativní Dokumenty)
4. Czech Posters (in Czech, České Plakáty)
5. Paintings (in Czech, Malby)
6. Drawings and Pastels (in Czech, Kresby a Pastely)
7. Studio (in Czech, Ateliér)

How to Get to the Mucha Museum

The Mucha Museum is located at number 7 Panská Ulice, a street with buildings of cultural interest and South American embassies. From here, you are close to other points of interest, such as the Powder Tower (500 meters), Wenceslas Square (500 meters), the Municipal House (650 meters), and the Prague National Museum (750 meters).

Due to its excellent location in Prague’s New Town district, the Mucha Museum is served by several types of public transport: metro (line A, Můstek station) and tram (lines 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 14, 24, 91, 92, 94, 95,96 or 98, Jindřišská stop).

Opening Hours & Ticket Prices

The Mucha Museum is open every day from 10 am to 6 pm!

As far as tickets are concerned, they cost 350 CZK (normal fare) or 280 CZK (reduced fare), and there’s also a family ticket (2 adults and 2 children) for 950 CZK. But you can find all the practical information on the official website of the Mucha Museum!

What to See at the Mucha Museum

“Čtyři Umění”

“The Four Arts” (in Czech, “Čtyři Umění”) is a set of four decorative panels, which Alphonse Mucha created in 1898. At this stage of his career, the artist executed other cycles, such as “The Four Seasons” (in Czech, “Čtyři Roční Období”) in 1996, “The Four Flowers” (in Czech, “Čtyři Květiny”) in 1898, and “The Four Hours of the Day” (in Czech, “Čtyři Denní Doby”) in 1899.

Contrary to usual, Alphonse Mucha didn’t add feathers, musical instruments, or other usual elements to “The Four Arts”. Here, the four muses are glorified as beautiful, elegant women, stylized with simple plant motifs and associated with different times of the day: morning (“Dance”), noon (“Painting”), afternoon (“Poetry”), and night. (“Music”).

“Čtyři Květiny”

“The Four Flowers” (in Czech, “Čtyři Květiny”) is another set of four decorative panels, which Alphonse Mucha produced in 1898. Interestingly, watercolors of two of the flowers – “Carnation” and “Iris” – had already been presented the previous year, at an exhibition at the Salon des Cents in Paris.

Although less famous than “The Four Arts”, “The Four Flowers” demonstrates Alphonse Mucha’s talent for representing the unique characteristics of each of the flowers. The other two flowers honored in this naturalistic cycle are “Rose” and “Lily”.

“Gismonda”

“Gismonda” is the poster that catapulted Alphonse Mucha to fame and success. Its origins date back to December 1894, when the Czech artist was replacing a friend in Alfred Lemercier’s printing shop and the latter received an urgent request from Sarah Bernhard, the director of the Théâtre de la Renaissance.

As none of Alfred Lemercier’s usual artists were available, the printer turned to Alphonse Mucha. “Gismonda” was such a revolutionary poster with its long, narrow shape and soft pastel colors, that the printer had to spread more than 4 thousand copies throughout Paris!

“Hamlet”

“Hamlet” was the last poster that Alphonse Mucha made for Sarah Bernhardt. Dated 1899, this colorful lithograph features not only Hamlet but also the ghost of his murdered father in the background and the drowned figure of Ophelia, who lies at her feet in a bed of flowers.

Sarah Bernhardt starred as Hamlet in William Shakespeare’s work of the same name – whose official name is “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” – in a French version translated by playwright Eugène Morand and the writer Marcel Schwob.

“Job”

“Job” is one of two promotional posters that Alphonse Mucha designed for JOB cigarette rolling papers, a popular French brand of cigarette paper that still exists today. This specific one is from 1898 and is the larger and more recent of the two.

Both of Alphonse Mucha’s “Job” posters feature a woman with notably long and abundant hair. The young woman holds a cigarette, whose smoke lingers around her head. Finally, at the top of the work, the name of the cigarette rolling paper brand JOB is clearly visible.

“Zvěrokruh”

“Zodiac” (in Czech, “Zvěrokruh”) is one of Alphonse Mucha’s most popular works and is even the image used on the entrance ticket to the Mucha Museum. Originally planned as a calendar for Ferdinand Champenois’ printing company in 1897, it ended up becoming a calendar for La Plume magazine.

The French literary and artistic magazine La Plume was one of the most influential in the city of Paris during the Belle Époque period. When its editor-in-chief bought the distribution rights to “Zodiac”, Alphonse Mucha also began to dedicate himself to designing the magazine’s covers.

“Pěvecké sdružení učitelů moravských”

“Moravian Teachers’ Choir” (in Czech, “Pěvecké sdružení učitelů moravských”) is a poster from 1911, centered on a young girl dressed in a folk costume from the city of Kyjov, in the South Moravian region (in Czech, Jihomoravský kraj). If you notice, her pose resembles “Music”, in “The Four Arts”!

The Moravian Teachers’ Choir was a choral group, which made numerous tours not only through the so-called Czech Lands (Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia) but also throughout Europe and the United States. His repertoire included classical, popular, and folk music.

“Princezna Hyacinta”

“Princess Hyacinth” (in Czech, “Princezna Hyacinta”) is a poster designed by Alphonse Mucha, to promote the ballet pantomime with the same name. The central effigy is the renowned Czechoslovak film and theater actress Andula Sedláčková.

“Princess Hyacinth” premiered in 1911 at the National Theater (in Czech, Národní Divadlo), in the city of Prague. With music by Oskar Nedbal and libretto by Ladislav Novák, the plot focuses on a blacksmith’s daughter who is kidnapped by a sorcerer.

“Výstava Slovanské Epopeje”

“Exhibition of the Slavic Epic” (in Czech, “Výstava Slovanské Epopeje”) is a promotional poster for the first exhibitions of “The Slavic Epic” (in Czech, “Slovanská Epopej”) in 1929. The model is his own daughter Jaroslava, while the figure in the background is the god of abundance and war Svetovit.

Painted between 1910 and 1928, “The Slavic Epic” is a cycle of twenty large canvases on the history and mythology of the Czechs and other Slavic peoples. Currently, “The Slavic Epic” is seen as Alphonse Mucha’s greatest masterpiece.

“Hvězda”

“Star” (in Czech, “Hvězda”) is an oil painting from 1923, for which Alphonse Mucha designed four preparatory studies. The painting is also known as “Woman in the Wilderness” (in Czech, “Žena v Divočině”), “Winter Night” (in Czech, “Zimní Noc”), and “Siberia” (in Czech, “Sibiř”).

“Star” portrays a Russian peasant woman, who awaits her death caused by the Civil War (1918-1922). The artist visited the country several times before painting “The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia: Labor in Freedom is the Foundation of the State” (in Czech, “Zrušení Nevolnictví na Rusi: Svobodná Práce – Osnova Národů”), one of twenty canvases from “The Slavic Epic”.

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