Aktuální výstavy Národního muzea

Výstava (17.11.2009–6.7.2010)

ZA SVOBODU! / BE FREE!

The second exhibition in the National Museum´s new building

Prostor: National Museum’s new building, Vinohradská 1, 110 00, Praha 1

This exhibition in the National Museum’s new building casts light on the atmosphere in Czechoslovakia from the 1950s to the 1989. It examines the dissemination of both free information and propaganda and presents diverse views of the individual events and spirit of that era, as well as the issue of information and access to it.

The exhibition is divided into two parts. The first hall focuses on the darker side of 1950s – political trials, the sealing of the border and changes in society – and also looks at how information was relayed to Czechoslovakia thanks to broadcasting from other countries, symbolised by a balloon used to drop Radio Free Europe pamphlets. Visitors can also see the “pen” in which Milada Horáková stood during her trial, and her very last letter. The hall also examines the 1960s.

The second hall turns to the 1970s and 80s, the years of normalisation when people retreated into the privacy of their own homes. It recalls the key factors and events of that period such as the economic collapse, the peace movement and various forms of dissent. We also present a stylised “samizdat workshop”, as well as literature published by exiles and broadcasts by Radio Free Europe during those years.

The exhibition closes with a “café”, a room with tables and chairs which is devoted to 17 November 1989 and the fall of the Iron Curtain. It is a venue for the kind of discussions that were typical of that time, and visitors can read the period press and other publications.

The exhibition has been organised by the National Museum in collaboration with the Military History Institute and the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic.