Lapidarium, Prague

Lapidarium is a part of the National Museum in Prague, Czech Republic. It was opened in 1905. It has been located in a summer palace on the exhibition area Výstaviště in Prague 7 - Holešovice. It houses valuable stone sculptures dating from the 11th to the 20th century.[1]The museum has a collection of around 2000 artefacts, 420 of which are on permanent display in eight halls of approximative area of 1500 square meters.

Romanic and the early Gothic period

The oldest Romanic fragments from the crypt of St. Vitus basilica of the Prague Castle are dated to the late 11th century. Romanic stove tiles decorated with reliefs of lion, gryphon, sphinx or emperor Nero. Eight tombstones with engraved figures of abbots well as various architectonical fragments of 11th to 13th century originate from the Benedictine abbey Ostrov (Insula), founded in 999 near Prague.

Late Gothic period

Six original gothic statues from the Charles Bridge Tower (Emperoro Charles IV, his son King Wenceslas IV, patron saints Vitus, Adalbert of Prague, Sigismundus and a lion can be seen here.[2]

Rennaissance

The Krocin's water fountain from Old Town square was moved here between 1911-1914. Several tombstones come from destroyed Prague cemeteries.

Hall of the Charles Bridge

Seven original baroque groups of statues include the largest monuments: Ecstase of sainte Ludgardis, made by Matthias Bernard Braun, and The Apotheose of St Ignatius of Loyola by Ferdinand Brokoff, which fell into the river in 1890 and was never recovered.

Hall of the Virgin Mary Pest Column

Fragments of five statues made by Johann Georg Bendl for the Old Town Square in Prague in 1650 after the idea of Emperor Ferdinand III (Maria Victoria) and destroyed by anarchists in 1918.

Hall of the Bohemian high Baroque style

It houses the first statue of the Bohemian patron saint Wenceslas, made by Johann Georg Bendl in 1680 for the Horse Market (later Wenceslas Square).

Hall of the Rococo style and Historicism

Roccocco is represented before all by a set of allegorical statues from the garden of a summer palace America projected by Kilian Igna Dienzenhofer. Statues made by Ignac Platzer originate from the Palais Kinsky in Prague. Models of statues show decoration of the historical building of the National Museum (round 1891).

Hall of Habsburg' Emperors

Monuments of the Austrian emperors Franciscus I. and Franz Joseph I. were cast from brass for public spaces, as well as the monument of mareschall J.V. Radetzky. Busts of Franz Joseph I. and his wife, Elisabeth (called Sisi) of white marble sculpted by Antonin Wagner in 1891 come from Pantheon of the National Museum.

In 1995, the Lapidarium was named one of the ten most beautiful museum exhibitions in Europe.[3]

References

http://www.nm.cz/Hlavni-strana/Visit-Us/Lapidarium-Lapidary-Exhibition-of-Stone-Monuments.html

Literature

Jiri FAJT - Lubomir SRSEN: The Lapidarium of the National Museum. Guide through the permanent exhibition. Prague 1993.

Coordinates: 50°6′19.94″N 14°25′53.35″E / 50.1055389°N 14.4314861°E / 50.1055389; 14.4314861

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