Mammoth Hunters In Prague National Museum

5 January 2007, 17:47 - History
Back in time for more than 20.000 years? In Prague's National Museum on the Wenceslas Square everything is possible. You can enter into the prehistoric times, right into the age of mammoth hunters, which falls into the middle part of the Upper Paleolithic.

The visitors of the unique exhibition Mammoth Hunters just by passing the gate of the National Museum enter into the world in which our ancestors lived in the area of today's Czech Republic some 20 thousand years ago.

It was the world full of constantly repeating climactic cycles, from extremely cold to extremely hot weather, when icebergs begin to recede from their latest advances. Yes, there were icebergs in the middle of Europe for some time, all the area was covered by snow and ice all year round.

The territorial centre of cultural world of Stone Age civilization were in Moravia, Austria and Silesia. How do we now? Some woven materials – clay with fiber imprinting, chipped stones were found in several places within this region. And of course the small statue of »the Venus of Dolní Věstonice«, that represents first burned ceramics made probably as sacrificial motives.

Amongst other fascinating things, the exhibit collection in the National Museum features original artefacts (including the Venus), reconstruction of dwellings and work instruments and an actual-sized replica of a mammoth (see picture) or human beings.

The exhibition, that takes place in three main halls of National Museum and is accompanied by special lights and sounds, closes on April 2007.

UPDATED (6 Jan 2007): The exhibition Mammoth Hunters belongs to one of the most popular exhibition in Prague now. The National Museum just announced that more than 150 thousand people visited the exhibition and decided to prolong it until 1 July 2007.

WHERE: National Museum (main building), Wenceslas Square, Prague 1

WHEN: until 1 July 2007 | open daily 9am - 5pm

MORE INFO: National Museum