The outstanding building of the National Museum is situated at the very top of Wenceslas Square in the New Town.
At the beginning of the 18th century the Royal Society of Sicence of Bohemia and the Society of Patriotic Friends of the Arts were founded and it was the time when the idea of establishing a Museum of Bohemia emerged. Initially it was patriotic project opposing the Astro-Hungarian policy of centralization carried out by Maria Theresa and Joseph II.
The National Museum was founded in 1818 particularly thanks to financial help of Czech aristocracy, namely Kašpar of Šternberk, František Antonín Kolowrat-Libštejnský and František Klebelsberk. The mastermind behind the project was František Palacký along with Josef Jungmann, Jan Svatopluk Presl and others. The actual neo-Renaissance place where the museum is situated was completed in 1890.
The palace itself is so spectacular that when the Russian soldiers entered the city in 1968 they believed it was the seat of the government and started firing at it, the bullet holes can still be seen in the walls.
