The Přemyslids: A dynasty that shaped Europe revisited at National Museum
Jewelry, weapons, manuscripts and the story of a dynasty that shaped not only Czech history – the National Museum in Prague opens what organisers describe as its biggest exhibition of the year titled The Přemyslids – A Ruling Dynasty and Its Age.
The exhibition presents more than 900 exhibits from the collections of the National Museum as well as nearly 70 domestic and foreign institutions. One of the most significant exhibits is the Romanesque sarcophagus of Saint Longinus, which likely once held the body of one of the rulers. Visitors can also look forward to coronation jewels. As many as three sets will be on display. One of the exhibition’s curators, Jiří Militký, continues:
“There are the funeral coronation jewels of Přemysl II, the burial crown, orb and scepter of Rudolf of Habsburg. And the biggest attraction is the original golden crown from the treasure of Środa Śląska in Poland, which was hidden sometime around 1350. Nevertheless, that crown holds a mystery since we do not know who it may have belonged to.”
The story of Saint Ludmila and her daughter-in-law Drahomíra is recalled in the exhibition by a textile from the grave of the former, who was murdered. It belongs among the most valuable early medieval artifacts in Bohemia. Among the exhibits is also the sword of Přemysl Otakar II, with which, according to legend, he fought at his last battle in 1278. Before then, his empire had stretched from Bohemia to the Adriatic. At this time, the power of the Přemyslid dynasty also began to decline.
“The exhibition tells us about four centuries of the existence of a medieval ruling house that, as the only one in the early Middle Ages, came to power in the 9th century and in the 10th century integrated the entire Czech territory under its rule. It is a story of how in the 13th century the Kingdom of Bohemia truly became a very important territory on the map of Central Europe,” says Militký.
Glass display cases with archaeological finds of coins, jewelry, as well as weapons and manuscripts are placed in four halls. In one of them there is also a model of the Romanesque rotunda of Saint Catherine, which stands in the town of Znojmo and is one of the most important monuments in the Czech Republic.
The exhibition is divided into four thematic sections. It guides visitors from the beginnings of the dynasty through the princely and royal era to its legacy in the time of the Luxembourg dynasty. It thus follows not only the development of the ruling family, but also the transformation of Bohemia and Moravia from the late 8th to the early 14th century in a broader European context. The director general of the National Museum, Michal Lukeš, continues:
“From these walls, members of the Přemyslid dynasty are looking at us; the exhibition is about them, it tells the complete story of this dynasty from mythical times up to 1306, when Wenceslas III was murdered. However, the exhibition is also about the fact that we still have many mysteries and unanswered questions. So even though we know that the figures in these paintings are members of the Přemyslid family, historians still argue and cannot precisely determine who is who.”
According to its authors, the exhibition aims to tell the stories of the Přemyslids differently than we know them from textbooks, while offering a contemporary view of a family clan that forms the central point of medieval Czech history.
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