Retro Museum in Kotva Department Store, a journey into the past

No better place for the Retro Museum than on the top floor of the Kotva Department Store which is itself retro! Have you always wanted to know what the kitchen and living room looked like in the 1970s and 1980s, what a grocery store looked like and what could you buy there and if classrooms were different from today’s, what was fashionable in those days, which cars were favoured and what cultural events were popular? The Retro Museum in Prague answers all these questions with a warning that foreign visitors will not find everything an ‘oh yes, I-remember-that’ experience’ because it is about Czechoslovak nostalgia. Nevertheless, also tourists will feel nostalgic when visiting the exhibition.

THE RETRO MUSEUM IS TEMPORARILY CLOSED

The exhibition consists of five parts

1. Furnishing of apartments and offices
2. Furniture made by Czechoslovak manufacturers.
3. Objects and design used in shops, canteens, schools.
4. Electronics
5. Life during normalization

Everyday life, communist style

You walk through typical communist-style apartments, and experience where and how most people lived. Glassware, dinnerware and tea and coffee cups are on the tables and in the cupboards. In the classroom hangs a portrait of the then president of Czechoslovakia, Gustáv Husark. A fully equipped sports shop shows the love for the outdoors. In total, there are about 12.000 objects donated by the public.

The wallpaper in the living room is brown, orange and yellow patterned; a wall unit covers the whole length of the wall. The drinks cabinet is inbuilt as the television which fits exactly in one of the hatches of the wall unit. The sofa is dark brown velvet.

The kitchen is completely original, including all Tesla equipment. The Formica wall cabinets contain everyday foodstuffs, very familiar for Czechs, less so for foreign visitors. There is a collection of siphons on a shelf and a shopping net hangs on the doorknob. There is also a large collection of housecoats and aprons.

The children’s bedroom has monchhichi cuddly toys, which, in those days, were popular all over the world. They looked like monkeys with a bib and diaper and the thumb in the mouth. There are also Merkur construction sets, the Czech answer to Meccano

Everyday Life in the 1970s and 1980s

The museum shows not only objects from everyday life, but also how the Czechoslovakians dressed, ate and spent their free time during the normalization period.

What is the normalization period?

Normalization period started with the Prague Spring and the invasion of the Soviets in 1968 and lasted until the Velvet Revolution 1989. The population had to live according to the rules dictated by the new regime. Anyone who would not comply lost his or her job and ended up on the fringes of social life. During the normalization period, everyday life was held together by various forms of control which manifested themselves in education policy and limited freedom of movement

Most people therefore focused on their private lives, outdoor hiking trips, spending time at their weekend cottages, reading, their hobbies. But the normalization regime also penetrated here: TV programs with hidden ideological codes and criticism of society and politics was only possible in an intimate circle of trusted friend.

Getting there

Retro Museum Praha located on the fourth floor of the Kotva Department Store.
Address: náměstí Republiky 8, Nove Mesto, Prague
Open: 09.00-20.00

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photos: Marianne Crone

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