National Gallery, Prague
| Národní galerie v Praze | |
Veletržní palác houses the largest collection of National Gallery art
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| Established | February 5, 1796 |
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| Location | Prague |
| Type | Art museum |
| Director | Jiří Fajt |
| Curator | Adam Budak |
| Public transit access |
Tram stop: Veletržní palác C Vltavská  Praha–Bubny
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| Website | http://www.ngprague.cz/en/ |
The National Gallery in Prague (Czech: Národní galerie v Praze) is a state-owned art gallery in Prague, which manages the largest collection of art in the Czech Republic. The collections of the gallery are not housed in a single building, but are presented in a number of historic structures within the city of Prague, as well as other places. The largest of the gallery sites is the Veletržní Palác, which houses the National Gallery's collection of modern art. It is one the largest museums in Central Europe.
The history of the National Gallery dates back to the end of the 18th century (namely February 5, 1796 ), when a group of prominent representatives of Bohemia patriotic aristocracy (Kolowrat, Sternberg, Nostitz) and Enlightened middle-class intellectuals decided to elevate what they called the "debased artistic taste" of the local population. The institution, which received the title Society of Patriotic Friends of the Arts, established the Academy of Fine Arts and the Picture Gallery. In 1918 the Picture Gallery became a central collection of newly formed Czechoslovakia.
In 1995 a new gallery dedicated to modern art opened in the refurbished Veletržní Palác (Trade-fair Palace). It is one of the first and largest functionalism building in Prague, built in 1925-1928.
St. George's Convent (Hradčany) was formerly used to display Art of the Middle Ages in Bohemia and Central Europe, Baroque art, and 19th-century art of Bohemia.
The international collection includes numerous works by artists such as Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh, Rodin, Gauguin, Cézanne, Renoir, Schiele, Munch, Miró and Klimt; many of these are donations from the collection of art historian Vincenc Kramář.
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Wikipedia