The National Museum, dominating upper Václavské námestí, looks so much like an important government building that it even fooled the Soviet soldiers, who fired on it during their 1968 invasion, thinking it was the seat of government. If you look closely at the columns you can still see shell marks. This grandiose statement of nationalist purpose opened in 1893, as the national revival gained momentum. The exterior is rimmed with names of the great and good of the homeland (albeit with several foreign guests such as astronomer Johannes Kepler). Inside the grand hall on the first floor is the lapidarium with statues depicting the most important figures in Czech history, including the father of the republic, Tomás Masaryk. Also on the first floor is an exhaustive collection of minerals, rocks, and meteorites from the Czech and Slovak republics. The other floor's exhibits depict the ancient history of the Czech lands through zoological and paleontological displays. Throughout the prehistory exhibit are cases of human bones, preserved in soil just as they were found. Nearby, a huge model of a woolly mammoth is mounted next to the bones of the real thing, and half a dozen rooms are packed with more stuffed-and-mounted animals than you can shake a spear at.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Prague and the Best of the Czech Republic, 7th Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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