The Museum of Horácko in Nové Mesto na Morave
Description
The Museum of Horácko in Nové Mesto na Morave
The Museum of Horácko in Nové Mesto na Morave was founded in 1892 as one of the first such institutions in Moravia. It is situated in a former Renaissance Town Hall from 1555. The current shape of the building dates back to its reconstruction in 1803.
Permanent exhibitions are dedicated to folk culture in the northern part of the Horácko Region (Horácko is an ethnographic term for “hilly area“) and glass-making, the iron and steel industry. There is also a large exhibition on skiing and ski-production in the region from the end of the 19th century up to the present, when Nové Mesto na Morave being a site of Cross-Country World Cups. In the summer season, Ghost Cellars with tales of Novomestsko are opened to the public and so is the courtyard with the most attractive exhibit of the museum - The Watermill from Vír - a moving figural complex of work and funny scenes, driven by a water wheel. The tour of the museum is suitable for visitors of all age groups. Of special interest to children are a permanent exposition a model classroom from the First - Republic period, enlarged copies of folk toys and on holidays, there is also a puppet theatre. Throughout a year we also organise a number of current exhibitions and events such as Easter and Christmas market with traditional crafts and folk-art products or -the annual opening of the Vír watermill. At the box office you can buy traditional hand- craft products and publications on various local issues.
PERMANENT EXPOSITIONS:
TIME OF GENERATIONS
Expositions of folk culture situated on the ground floor of the museum acquaint visitors with the most typical exapmples of folk culture in the northern part of the Moravian Horácko Region. Most of the exhibits are related to folk production with an emphasis on the local textile production and wood processing. Among the most popular exhibits count the weaver´s products and samples of period woodcarving, such as folk toys whose enlarged copies are installed for visitor to try out.
THE SKI PRODUCTION AND SKIING DEVELOPMENT
The first skis were brought to the Novomestsko Region from Norway in the early 1890s. In 1893, Skating Club was established in Nové Mesto na Morave. Transformed into a Sports club in 1910, registered into the Union of Skiers in the Kingdom of Bohemia and organized the first ski race on 2nd February 1910. 1934 was a watershed in the local sports life, the Czecho- Moravian Highlands Golden Ski championship was held for the first time and made the town famous in the following years. From the 1970s was organized on the national level and since the 1980s it has been a part of Cross-Country World Championships. Nowadays, Nové Mesto na Morave is established as an important organizer of biathlon world races (Biathlon World Championships in 2013). Due to the long-term sports tradition, the Museum of Horácko is one of the few museums in the Czech Republic with an exposition dedicated to skiing. The exhibition encompasses old models of skis, skiing equipment from various periods, awards and prizes to the regional skiers, as well as part of an old workroom and a so -called ski station.
GLASS-MAKING
The sufficiency of wood, resources of raw materials and water energy set up conditions for glass-making and iron and steel industry in the region. Our large collection is exceptrional mainly for its glass exhibits from some of the well-known glassworks in the Czecho - Moravian Highlands - Milovy, Križánky, Fryšava and Herálec- which were founded in the 16th and 17th century. Glass-making expansion lasted until the 18th century and after the new recovery in the 19th century a gradual decline in the production occured, mainly as a result of larger rival enterprises. The last glassworks in the Novomestsko Region stopped operating before World War I.
IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY
The village of Hamry, as the first iron and steel works, is documented in the domain of Nové Mesto as early as in 15th century, its first blast furnaces were built during the 17th and 18th century. In the latter of 19th century the furnaces reached a point of terminating the production due to the lack of local resources and as a consequence of the technical revolution in iron and steel industry, when wood was replaced by mineral coal. The most important iron and steel works in the region worked in the Kadov village (in the 17th and 18th century), which was the second largest producer in Moravia in the latter half of the 18th century. The factories produced soft iron for agriculture, crafts and weapons during war-perionds, and from the 19th century on also utility and crafts cast iron. Their former glory is still to be encountered in the cast-iron crosses in local cemeteries and in wayside crosses speckling the landscape.
THE CLASSROOM
Visitors of all age groups are welcome to explore our model of a 1930s rural classroom.
THE WATERMILL FROM VÍR
Our visitors mostly point out the so-called "Watermill from Vír" as the most interesting exhibit. Situated in a courtyard of the museum, it is a copy of the original mill which Vincenc Navrátil from Vír constructed for children in the stream by his cottage . Between the 1940s and 1970s he created with his son´s help a large figural assemblage inspired by local environment. For movement transfer they used discarded components from a local textile factory where Vincenc Navratil worked as a maintenance man. In 1980, the original work was donated to the museum by his grandson, Stanislav Navrátil. The copy installed in the courtyard in 1995 was made by Josef Filip from Velké Mezirící with the use of the original driving components. The water race and water man are additions that were not part of original. The mill-opening ceremony, which takes place at the start of the high season every year, falls on the first Friday in May. A folklore performance is a part of this celebration.
INFORMATION CENTRE
The Information Centre provides visitors with information and leaflets. The centre is responsible for the PR and promotion of the museum, the tickets sale, public internet, copying, fax and scan services. In the Information Centre visitors can also buy postcards, stamps, pole labels, tourist cards, tourist tags, diaries, books about Nové Mesto na Morave, the neighbouring villages and the region, t-shirts, whistles, indigo print products, wooden toys, cups and other souvenirs.
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