The History of the Náprstek Museum

The Náprstek family home, with its library and museum, became a focal point for prominent figures of the time, including travellers, who received moral and financial support from Vojtěch Náprstek and his wife Josefa.

Between 1877 and 1887, the collections were primarily comprised of donations from Czechs who worked or travelled abroad. In 1932, the museum became the property of the Czechoslovakian state and was named after its founder. At the beginning of World War II, it became part of the National Museum. In 1962, the museum’s ethnographic collection was expanded with the addition of Ancient Egyptian artifacts and non-European numismatics, and it was renamed the Náprstek Museum of Asian, African, and American Cultures.

The initial collections of the Náprstek Museum, formed through systematic collecting by various individuals and occasional gifts in the 19th century, represent only a small portion of the entire collection. Currently, the Central Asian collection comprises around 400 items that are products of traditional artistic crafts. These are primarily textiles (fabrics, clothing, embroidery, carpets), ceramics, and metal artworks. The majority of the items originate from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, with fewer coming from Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan, represented by only a few artifacts.

The ways in which art objects came to be part of the museum were diverse. In the second half of the 19th century, the museum received 49 items as gifts from individuals who served abroad. Starting in the 1990s and the early 21st century, the number of acquisitions decreased. For instance, only seven items were received in the 1990s, and 31 between 2000 and 2012. Since the 1950s to present, the collection has been dominated by crafts. An exception are the exhibits donated by the heirs of E. Fait, who in the late 19th century made several scientific journeys, including to Central Asia. From his private collection, which entered the museum in 1987, come the items collected in Uzbekistan between 1915 and 1917. Another group consists of artifacts collected by Vincent Šier, who served as a bandmaster in the Tsarist army in Mary from 1890 to 1905. These were donated to the museum in 2000 by his granddaughter.

You can learn more about the topic in the book-album "The Collection of the Czech Republic" (Volume XVI) in the series "Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in the World Collections".

The main sponsor of the project is the oilfield services company Eriell-Group.