Handprints of celebrities captured in Bohemia crystal
The Crystal Touch Museum in Litoměřice offers a unique exposition of authentic handprints of famous personalities captured in Bohemia crystal. The exhibition is the work of glass master Jan Huňát who launched the project in 2007.
Most people are familiar with the handprints of celebrities on Hollywood Boulevard, but few people know that Czechia also has its collection of handprints of famous people. The Crystal Touch Museum in Litoměřice offers a unique exposition of authentic handprints of famous personalities captured in Bohemia crystal – among them the hands of the late Czech president Václav Havel, Ringo Starr, Ennio Morricone, Sir Nicolas Winton, Jaromír Jágr, Patrik Elias, Elijah Wood, Sir Tom Finney, Dominik Hašek, Madeleine Albright, Ivan Lendl and many others.
The museum, located on the main square next to the town hall, has over 60 exhibits. It is the work of glass master Jan Huňát, who runs the museum together with his father Alexander Huňát, also a glass master. Huňát Sr. showed us around the exhibition space.
“The most daunting task was reaching the people in question and persuading them to cooperate. We were greatly assisted by the late Karel Schwarzenberg who publicly supported the project and used his contacts to open doors for us. When we managed to get Vaclav Havel’s handprint –and that took us all of two years – it made things much easier, because it gave us credibility in the eyes of others.”
Among the handprints you will find are those of writer Arnošt Lustig, actor Steven Seagal, Polish opposition leader and later president Lech Walesa, pop idol Anastacia, the legendary Czech footballer Josef Masopust, singer Charles Aznavour, film director Jiří Menzel, Gene Simmons and other members of the band Kiss, gymnast Věra Čáslavská, actor Zdeněk Svěrák, traveler Miroslav Zikmund and the late Czech pop idol Karel Gott.
Jan Huňát says it took many months of trial and error for him to perfect the technique of hand printing in crystal glass and he made many attempts on his family before daring to ask a famous personality. His technique of taking handprints and then transferring them to crystal glass is now a protected trademark. In the museum visitors can guess whose hand they are looking at and match it to their own hand. They can also watch a video demonstrating the process of making the handprint in crystal –in this case on tennis star Novak Djokovic. Huňát Sr. points out one hand that gets a lot of attention.
“Yes, that is the hand of actor Steven Seagal. It is the biggest hand in our museum. My son managed to persuade Mr. Segal to allow him to take his handprint at a music festival in Hradec Kralove at 3 am in the morning.”
Each handprint, with its unique lines and imperfections,tells the story of a famous personality who made their mark in the world. Some have a signature, others a symbol that was agreed on with the person in question. Composer Ennio Morricone added a few notes to his signature, the late pop idol Karel Gott's hand has a nightingale, Madeleine Albright's hand is flanked by the silhouettes of a Czech lion and an American eagle and Sir Nicolas Winton's hand is surrounded by the initials of all the children he rescued.
Jan Huňát is also the author of the monument at Prague’s main railway station dedicated to Sir Nicolas Winton, who in 1939 saved 669 mostly Jewish children from concentration camps by arranging their departure to England. The monument is a replica of a carriage door with adult handprints on one side and children's handprints on the other.
