Smetana Museum: Showcasing his Life and Compostions
The Smetana Museum in Prague is dedicated to the life and works of the Czech composer Bedrich Smetana. This graffiti-decorated building was originally owned by the water company. The exhibition space is on the first floor. The Smetana archive is located on the top floor and is not open to the public. The statue in front of the museum is Smetana sitting on a rock overlooking the Vltava River, the river that inspired him to compose Ma Vlast which invokes the flow of the Vltava River.

Smetana Museum: what to see
The exhibition in the museum gives an insight in Smetana life through letters, photos and newspaper reports. There are also personal belongings of the composer, such as the piano on which he played during his five-year stay in Sweden. Furthermore, there are music stands with extracts from his operas. At the push of a button, you will hear meleodies from his most important compositions. His most famous operas are The Bartered Bride, Libuse and Dalibor, which are still in the repertoire of the National Theater.
Smetana: his compositions and operas
Bedrich Smetana (1824–1884) was a Czech composer and is best known for a cycle of six symphonic poems, of which the second Ma Vlast, my homeland, is the best known. It describes various aspects of his homeland: its countryside and legends.
In the nineteenth century, German was the official language and German culture was predominant. But Smetana wrote his operas in Czech and this has contributed to a revival of Czech national culture.
His opera ‘Libuse’ was composed for the inauguration of the National Theater and premiered on 11 June 1881. During maintenance a large fire destroyed most of the building. On 18 November 1883 the theatre reopened with a performance of ‘Libuse’. This opera tells how Princess Libuse predicted that Prague would one day become an important city.

Getting there
Bedrich Smetana Museum is next to Charles Bridge.
Address, Bedrich Smetana Museum, Novotného lávka 1, Nove Mesto, Prague
Public transport, Tram 17, 18 and 21 stop Karlovy Lazne
Opening hours, Daily from 10am to 5pm, closed on Tuesday
Related article
Smetana and the National Theatre
photos Marianne Crone