Built in 1925–1928 after the plans of architects Josef Fuchs and Oldřich Tyl, this imposing building was the largest edifice of its kind in the world. First it served as the Prague Sample Trade Fairs company and, after the war, housed various foreign trade companies.
The history of the building was dramatically affected on August 14, 1974, when it was nearly destroyed by a huge fire that took six days before being quenched. In 1976, a decision was made to renovate the building; the reconstruction progressed slowly and was finally completed in the 1990s.
Permanent exhibitions:
1796–1918: Art of the Long Century
Purposefully and naturally connecting Czech and international art, this selection displays more than 450 artworks in three major chapters: Man, The World and Ideas. The exhibits include both painting and sculpture, and feature such great names as Josef Mánes, Pablo Picasso, Bohumil Kubišta and Antonio Canova.
1918–1938: First Czechoslovak Republic
Created on the occasion of the 100th Czechoslovakia anniversary, this exhibition introduces the rich and cosmopolitan art scene of the young independent Czechoslovakia - between 1918 and 1938. Next to the paintings by prominent Czech, Slovak, Czech-German and Carpathian-Russian artists (Václav Špála, Josef Čapek, etc.), you can see some wonderful artworks from the National Gallery’s French collection (by Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh and others).
