Czech Heritage Museum and Genealogy Center — Attraction in Temple

Definitely a stop you shouldn't miss if you are in the area. My wife and I are from Czechoslovakia (it was that when we were born), but you don't have to be to thoroughly enjoy this small museum and its beautiful exhibits.

Ken, the proprietor, will walk you through the history, enlighten you with cool stories of other visitors, and you'll definitely get a lot of recommendations for other Czech-and-Slovak-related sights and activities in the area, such as dance halls, or stores and restaurants with delicious Czech foods. I never knew Texas has such a rich Czech and Slovak history.

The museum itself is very small, so if you only have an hour or two to spare, you can easily get through it, if you walk and read fast.

The museum was not busy at all on Saturday around 1pm (there were only 2 other people there). It's definitely suitable and exciting for kids too, but keep in mind that there are things within reach they shouldn't touch and handle.

The exhibits on 'loutky' (puppets), 'kroje' - the traditional clothing, and old farm and household equipment from the Old World is pretty neat to see (in great condition, too).

They dedicated a few exhibits to the Sokol athletic movement, Tomáš Gariggue Masaryk, Václav Havel, Ján Hus and other statesmen, and...

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the Czech Heritage Museum. The Czech people have contributed much to the culture of central Texas, so I thought it would be worth a trip to learn more about their presence and history in the area. I was not disappointed in the least! The museum worker, Ken Lange, was very friendly and knowledgeable of both the history of the Czech lands and of Czech immigration to the US in general and Texas in particular. We greatly appreciated his sharing his heritage with us.

The collection was impressive, consisting of everything from paintings, informational exhibits about the founder of Czechoslovakia Tomáš Masaryk, first president of the Czech Republic Václav Havel, and the history of the Czech people, and a variety of items brought over by Czech immigrants, among other things. Especially impressive to me, as a linguist, was the goldmine of books and records in and about the Czech language. I could spend hours in that one room!

If you have any interest in Czech culture and history, or in the history and demographics of central Texas, please pay the Czech Heritage Museum a visit! It is well...

This museum is beautiful with beautiful items. I truly enjoyed the items. The gentleman who was going to give us a tour was very nice and passionate about this museum which is a big plus....however very talkative.. just to get through the front part of the museum which should have taken 10 to 15 mins at most took almost 30 minutes. I kind of was bored after all these dates and facts. 2 people entered the museum after we started so we had to wait for him to catch them up and go through everything he just told us. Well then we were gonna go to the next part and watch a 9 minute video but the tour guide and the 2 other people got to talking and wouldn't stop. My mom and I walked around the entire museum. 30 to 45 minutes later he came and found us at the end of the museum and ushered us back to watch the video. We left after that. Kind of a waste to go back through the museum again. My guess is the complete tour takes 2 to 3 hrs so make sure you make enough...