National Gallery Prague – Trade Fair Palace — Attraction in Prague

Verdict: 10/10 absolutely recommend and would go again in a heartbeat.

Details: A massive complex of artworks organized in a few permanent exhibitions and some temporary exhibitions. The artworks are top-notch and well-selected, from both the big names and lesser known but equally impressive and thoughtful painters, sculptors, designers, and architects. Narratives are excellently done, majority of the pieces, especially the sculptures, are accompanied by notes (in both Czech and English) that tell cohesive stories about their context, content, creators, merits, quirks, etc. and you learn some fascinating history of Prague and Czech along the way while soaking in the art.

The curators and art arrangers clearly have put a lot of thoughts into organizing the art pieces into not only their periods, but also shared themes that highlight the artwork's qualities. A sculpture of a dying Abel in front of a painting of Cain, half-naked on a rocky beach staring into the viewer's soul with eyes of a wolf? You can bet on that. A group of sculptures of industrial labourers surrounded by paintings showing factories, trains, and workers in the late 19th century? A theme that cannot be passed up. Different takes on what Adam and Eve's life is before the Fall are gathered together between two walls, and seeing how artists conceptualise and execute the same narrative in drastically diverging ways is a revelation.

You could spend an entire day there just going through the permanent exhibitions. Pro tip: other than the usual paintings, drawings, and sculptures, don't forget the 2nd floor exhibition on 20th century architecture and life in the Czech lands, especially during the Cold War. The setup, floor design, curation, presentation (models, photos, archival videos, images, and text all come together to draw viewers into a vastly fascinating but little considered aspect of life and history. At least both of us were positively hooked and watched all videos, something we've never had the patience or sustained interest to do in other art museums.), and storytelling on many iconic -- and some now demolished -- buildings in Czechia are superb and...

Walked 45 minutes out of the city to see Mucha's Slav Epic. Outside of the gallery it was still advertised. I bought 2 tickets 300 KC each. We walked around for about 15 minutes and poked our heads in other exhibits and saw a few interesting things. When we decided to go and see the Mucha's we couldn't find them. We went to ask at the front desk where they were and we were told, in a very condescending, almost mocking tone, "it's finished! The exhibit is being packed up so that it can be shipped to Asia". I thought that something was being lost in translation. I showed them my guide book to make sure we were talking about the same things. We were. They were a temporary exhibit for 2 years. When I asked if it would be possible to get a refund, as the Mucha's were the ONLY reason we came, they looked at me with disdain and flatly refused saying I had already gone in. When I pointed out that the sign outside still had them advertised, they said that was going to be changed in time. I asked to speak to a manager and no one came. Instead, We were handed a list of telephone numbers and email addresses to contact. In short, NO MUCHA. NO MONEY. Don't bother going. Not much of importance at this museum worth the journey. Save your money....

Talk about underselling... We saw the underwhelming brochures for this museum, and as museum addicts in possession of passes that included this one, we figured we'd have a look. We didn't expect a lot based on the descriptions and photos in the brochure, and we had the surprise of our lives. We went twice on separate days! And we still had to gloss over some amazingly great art! They really need to redo their publicity materials. Tastes may vary, but I put this right at the top of art museums I've seen anywhere in the world. Yep. I said it. A word of advice: start on the 4th floor and work your way down. If you reach a section that doesn't appeal to you, just walk on by til things look up again. We started slowly because the first section looked good to us, and we tend to like a thorough approach to looking at art, but it kept getting better and we started to run out of time. It's a BIG, excellent collection. Treat yourself, is my advice. I hope you love it as...