Technology Museum and Art Studio

This morning we walked across the Mánesüv bridge to Malostranská to take the 12 tram to the Technology Museum in Letná. Another beautiful morning!

Paul, the navigator!

Here we are arriving at the National Technology Museum. Founded in 1908, the museum has a range of collections that show the history of technological advancement across fields, sciences, and industries in the Czech Republic. Some of the permanent exhibitions include astronomy, the measurement of time, household appliances, and printing.

Here Dinah is giving a brief rundown of the role of industry and technology in the history of the Czech Republic. For example, during the 19th Century, the lands of the Bohemian Crown produced more than 70% of all industrial goods in the Austrian Empire.

Next stop: airplanes, cars, and all things automotive.

Here is Sophie looking at an old split flap clock that used to be controlled by a radio signal.

Brianna is looking at film cameras through the years.

Note the photo (right) of Václav Havel, the first freely elected president of the democratic Czech Republic, taken on a Leica M3, 50mm lens. The photo was captured in 1975 — before Havel’s presidency and before the end of the Communist regime — and shows Havel writing a letter to President Gustav Husák, Czechoslavakia’s Communist leader at the time.

“An indubitable quality of classic film photography is that it is true to life. The events captured on photographic film have documentary value and cannot be challenged in any way.”

Here’s Dammy with the digital.

And Olivia and Nate with the holographic (binoculars).

In the next room, Valeria is with the sundials.

On the other side of the building, Brianna has found the Jawa 50 New Pionyr (2006).

Here’s Ben sketching the Mercedes Benz W154 from 1938/39, which many automobile historians regard as the best racing car of all time.

Last stop: the printing presses on the second floor.

“The wooden press from the Jesuit printing workshop in the Prague Clementinum on display is a rare extant example of the design of a letterpress from the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th centuries. The screw of the press, its nut and the pressure plate were already made of metal. The paper, stuck into the needles, was pressed against the cover by a tympan (hinged metal frame) during the printing operation.”

(Note: we saw and learned about the Clementinum building during our architecture tour on Sunday.)

Here is Klaudija looking at some typographs, which were invented to speed up the slow and arduous process of running the letterpress.

After a few hours at the Technology Museum, we paused for lunch and then made our way to the art studio at the Meet Factory to work on Dripstone Wall drawings.