Chrudim Puppetry Museum (Muzeum loutkárských kultur v Chrudimi), the biggest collection of puppets and puppetry artifacts in the country, uses for permanent exhibition a beautiful Renaissance Mydlár house (Mydlárovský dum) in Chrudim historic centre. The Mydlár house, which acquired its Renaissance appearance in 1573-1577, is an exceptionally valuable house with a representative arcaded façade and an original layout with a unique astronomical tower with a minaret. The house is dominantly applied in the image of the Chrudim and co-creates the city skyline. The building was renovated for the Chrudim Puppetry Museum (Muzeum loutkárských kultur v Chrudimi), which opened here on July 2, 1972.
The unique Museum now houses around 50,000 items. Almost 8,500 puppets from the world's collections can be seen in the museum. There are also stage designs, models, scenery, programs, photographs, sound recordings, printed matter, manuscripts, works of art with a puppetry theme, posters and other archives. Short-term exhibitions are held here, which take place elsewhere in the Czech Republic or abroad. There is a library with about 18,000 volumes in the museum. The events in the museum focus not only on collecting and processing documents on the development of Czech, but also world puppetry. Around 20,000 visitors see the exhibition every year. Access to the museum is partially barrier-free.
The permanent exhibition entitled The Magical World of Puppets deals with family puppet theaters, puppets of nomadic puppeteers, variety puppets and decorative products of Czech artists. The museum also houses Spejbl and Hurvínek and the work of Jirí Trnka or Josef Váchal. In the foreign part you can see puppets from India, Japan, China or Burma, shadow puppets from Indonesia, and also Vietnamese water puppets.
The Museum was opened on July 2, 1972 on the occasion of the 20th year of the Chrudim Puppet Festival. First, the museum showed a private collection of Prof. PhDr. Jan Malík (1904-1980), at whose initiative the town of Chrudim became the seat of the Puppet Museum. Jan Malík also organized that the individual national centers of the international puppet organization UNIMA be represented here by their own exhibition. Throughout its existence, the museum's collection has expanded considerably.
The Museum of Puppet Cultures is located in three connected historical houses, but the permanent exhibition is located in the Renaissance Mydlár House, which was originally the only seat of the museum.
Mydlár house, originally a Gothic structure from the 15th century in Bretislavova street N ° 74, was bought by a rich Chrudim burgher, soap maker and candle maker Matej Mydlár on January 11, 1571. The new owner rebuilt the house in the Renaissance style during the years 1573-1577. Shortly after the completion of the reconstruction, he sold the house to his younger brother, Daniel. Daniel is credited with the characteristic minaret-style twin towers. The first tower has five stories with a spiral staircase. The lower part probably served as a living area. The second, higher tower, built to the east, is topped with eight small windows. We can only speculate as to the purpose of their construction. However, since from the beginning they were referred to as an "observatory" it is probable that they served for astronomical observations. The reconstruction of the Mydlár House had a positive effect on the neighbourhood. Mydlár's neighbors were inspired and started to decorate their houses with diverse architectural elements. Townspeople in other neighborhoods subsequently began building new houses, and thus Chrudim acquired an attractive new appearance in just a few years. The Mydlár house belonged to several different people outside the Mydlár family. The last known owner of the house was Marie Kozlanská, who bequeathed the house to the town in 1952.
The Mydlár house is a terraced town house on a small deep plot situated on a hill by the Chrudim town walls south of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. From the Bretislavova street it is a four-storey house with an loggia, to the walls this part stands on a high base and on the right side it has a five-storey tower topped by a miniature minaret. The street facade with five-axis three-storey loggia, newly supported by a steel structure with subtle columns, is characterised by rich figural decorations on the first floor railing. From the left are standing figures representing piety, justice, prudence, and strength, and reclining figures representing peace, war, love, and honesty. The loggia columns are also remarkable. The beams are decorated with clown heads, the portrayal of a bull, a deer, a few roses, and a Christogram of the letters IHS. The loggia columns are also remarkable. The beams are decorated with clown heads, the portrayal of a bull, a deer, a few roses, and a Christogram of the letters IHS. The third gallery was originally made of sandstone, with a cornice and trim featuring allegorical statues; however, in the early 19th century the walls were demolished due to instability and replaced with wood.
Interesting and important for history is a simple Renaissance bossed stone entrance portal decorated with the emblem of the house with the initials of the builder (MM). Above it is a stone lintel with a text from the Gospel of John (4:16) in Czech and the year of beginning of the Renaissance reconstruction of the house (1573).
Source: excerpted and translated from
Wikipedia
and
National Heritage Institute portal.