Hidden Prague #10 - The Langweil Model of Prague

They say that the best things come wrapped up in small parcels, and that certainly applies to the Langweil Model of Prague. This extraordinary art piece is made entirely of paperboard and contains models of over two and a half thousand buildings taken from the city as it was in the late 1820s. Every element is modelled down to the last detail, house signs, sundials, broken windows, and flaking paintwork, even piles of wood and barrels stacked outside warehouses on the river.

Antonín Langweil (13.6.1791 – 11.6.1837) was born into a large family and after his father’s death in the same year moved to Český Krumlov. He studied business but was also a talented artist, and set up his own lithographic workshop in Prague in 1819, the first in Bohemia. His business didn’t last long and in 1822 he became a library assistant in the university library in the Klementinum where he stayed until his death. He began work on the Prague model in 1826. Eleven years later, before the model was completed, Langweil died. Before his death, and in failing health, he offered his model to the National Museum (known then as the Patriotic Museum) but they declined to take it. It was stored in the Klementinum attic in nine crates until his widow asked Emperor Ferdinand I to buy it. He then donated the purchase to the museum, but even then it was rarely displayed until 1905 when it became a permanent exhibit.

In 1954 the City Of Prague Museum took possession of the model and beautifully restored between 1963 and 1969 by Jana and Jiří Bouda. The model got a new glass case in 1970, which was then replaced by the current case in 1999 which maintains a controlled dust-free environment. The lighting system was installed in 2007.

                  


The model covers about twenty square meters, In addition to the buildings there are over five thousand items of vegetation. The only people in the model are two soldiers on guard. Of all the buildings in the model, about half have since been demolished or radically rebuilt.

As mentioned above, the model is housed in the City of Prague Museum. The museum is located on Na Poříčí in Prague 8, near Florenc metro or bus station. The museum is relatively small and contains a number of exhibits in addition to the Langweil model. These include a  pre-history collection and a medieval exhibition. When we were there, a small party was just leaving, and we were almost alone in the building apart from the staff. We got there just in time to watch a specially created 3D movie which takes you on a virtual trip through the model lasting about six minutes.

If you only visit one museum in Prague, I would strongly urge you to make it this one. You won't be disappointed.