Architecture is considered to be the art of creating a space – so three-dimensional objects must be part of the architecture collection. The collection of 3-D objects is closely linked both to personal archives and the legacies of architects as well as to the archive collections of important institutions and organizations – especially those from Prague – and together form the Archive of Architecture and Civil Engineering. The architecture collection features three basic groups that frequently overlap.

Legacies of architects

A natural part of the acquired legacies was a whole series of architectural and urbanistic models, architectural details, sculpture sketches or master models of sculptures used for buildings. The architecture collection also features design furniture and a number of authentic personal objects.
Just a few of the major figures of Czech architecture are given below. Dozens of master plaster reliefs and architectural details for decorating interiors and exteriors of buildings such as the Rudolfinum, National Museum and Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague can be found in estate objects of architect Josef Schulz. From the estates of Jan Kotěra, Alois Dryák, Josef Gočár and Pavel Janák, we find a number of original plaster, wooden or paper models of buildings designed by them.
There are also authentic furniture pieces from several donated estates – drawing cabinets, desks, drawing utensils, rulers and t-squares, samples of refined construction materials, small inspirational sculptures from the estates of Leonard Řechka, Josef Zítek, Pavel Janák, Adolf Beneš and Otto Rothmayer. A superb part of the collection include a number of models of sculpture ornamentation for buildings designed by famous sculptors of the 19th and 20th century – miniature models, plaster sketches, master models for stone carvers or relief designs.

Estates of architecture offices

A group of donors of equal importance is that of organizations and institutions – especially large construction companies, specialised schools or important project associations (e.g. the Association for Completing the St. Vitus Cathedral). Some builders of important public buildings donated to the museum collection professionally composed plaster models. Such models include, for instance, that of Neo-gothic western facade of the St. Vitus Cathedral, the building of the National Theatre, of the National Museum, of the Rudolfinum, of the Municipal House, of the premises of the ministry buildings in Prague and others. In recent years, the collection has grown by over ten plastic models of built and unbuilt works by the renowned SIAL association of Liberec.

Educational models

In teaching architecture, art history and Civil Engineering, architectural models and building components are a must. A special place in the architecture collection is held by the so-called “Sander Collection” created for educational purposes at a technical school in the Smíchov quarter of Prague at the turn of the 20th century. More than eight hundred castings represent the development of classical architecture – Greek, Roman, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque – in the form of plaster copies of preserved authentic fragments of famous edifices. This extensive collection was compiled and provided to the museum on the initiative of František Sander, a teacher and architect, in 1921.

Damage from the flood to the architecture collection

Unfortunately, a number of models and sculptures stored in the Invalidovna building in the Karlín quarter of Prague were damaged during the 2002 flooding. Cooperation with the Restoration School of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, sufficient funding from the Czech Ministry of Culture and careful supervision of the work of select restorers enabled the practically irreparable to be repaired. The most valuable object can be viewed in the permanent exhibit of architecture, Civil Engineering and design on the 3rd floor of the main building on Letná..