Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry

Today’s Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry department was developed from the original Mechanical Engineering group that was created along with the founding of the museum club in 1908 and focused on all products of a mechanical-engineering nature – meaning even those that currently represent the basis of the museum’s transportation, metallurgy and railway collections.

At the time the museum was opened to the public in 1910, the mechanical engineering group and textiles group had in the then Technical Museum Club the most members and also the highest number of exhibited objects. Leading these exhibition groups were important experts in the industry and universities (A Živna, B. Šlechta). Many valuables technical monuments, for instance Hiller’s steam engine and Marcu’s combustion engine, were acquired for the collections even before the outbreak of World War I. The exhibition activities were also developed – a textile exhibition was installed at Schwarzenberg Palace. The 1920s and 30s brought about an increase in the number of collection objects. In addition to textile objects, the typewriters collection was started at this time.
The period of World War II witnessed a drop in the museum’s activities. The collections had to be moved to another part of Prague (Karlín) and the building at Letná was used for protectorate administration. Despite these difficulties, in 1942 the museum opened its activities for the public and some interesting acquisitions were made – for instance, the steam engine that powered the National Theatre’s power station.

Following the end of the war, the activities of the museum club suffered with personnel problems and only slowly returned to its normal state. A valuable addition to the collection at the time consisted of receiving some of the collections of the former Náprstek Industrial Museum – e.g. printing technology and household technology.

The organizational structure of the museum has changed several times from the 1950s to present and this has also had an impact on the areas of mechanical engineering and consumer goods. In 1954, the new department of light industry was created and later merged in 1963 with the mechanical engineering and textile production department. Two years later (1965) the “Time” exhibit was opened for the public. In 1974, an independent consumer goods department with printing, textile and household technology was created. The “Engines” exhibit was opened near the NTM’s main building in 1977, and four years later was reinstalled in the newly prepared spaces. In 1995, the mechanical engineering and consumer goods industry was once again merged.

Mechanical Engineering

Engines	Mechanical Engineering Technology	Measurement in Mechanical Engineering	Chronometric Technology

Clockmaker Technology	Non-electrical Lights	Work Safety

The core of today’s chemistry and biotechnology department consisted of a vast collection of sugar-making objects and models that were endowed to the museum upon its inception to the credit of a large group of sugar-making specialists involved in starting the museum. The sugar industry exhibit was among the first opened in 1910 in the Schwarzenberg Palace. The collection over the following years was thematically expanded to include the brewing industry, distillery and chemical technology linked mainly to the foodstuffs industry. Despite the original plans, however, there was no space for it in the building at Letná and most of the collection is still stored in depositories. Visitors in Dobrovice near Mladá Boleslav, where the Museum of the Sugar Industry, Distillery and Beet-Sugar Industry is located, can find a selection of quality objects from the NTM’s chemistry collection.

The earliest period of chemistry is represented by a complete alchemical laboratory, equipped and outfitted with replicas of utensils and tools from the end of the 15th century, created in 1914 in the glass shop Kavalier Sázava, from designs by Otakar Zachar. The collection includes glassware, called retorts at the time: alembíks, pelicans, křivule; also various earthenware, distillation apparatus, iron tongs and other tools of a medieval alchemist.