Czech Republic Guide
South Moravia
Technické muzeum
Opening time: Tues– Sun 9am–5pm
Website: www.technicalmuseum.cz
Price: 60Kč
Brno's Technické muzeum is in the far northern suburb of Královo Pole, by the terminus of tram #13. Head first for the museum's Panoptikon (April– Oct daily 9am–5pm; Nov– March Mon– Fri 9am–5pm), a large wooden stereoscope built in 1890 and designed to allow several viewers to see its three-dimensional slides simultaneously. The exhibition itself kicks off with a host of beautiful vintage and veteran cars from a lovely 1910 Austro-Daimler to a postwar Praga limo – look out, too, for the Z4, made by Brno's own Zbrojovka car factory. On the ground floor there's some pretty technical stuff on steam engines and turbines, with a section on Viktor Kaplan, who invented his turbine while working in Brno. With labelling mostly in Czech, it's probably best to head for the more visually engaging exhibits on the second floor, including dioramas and mechanical music boxes, model planes, old radios, TVs and telephones. On the top floor is the Experimentárium, the museum's excellent hands-on section.