Below are the official descriptions of the exhibitions at two museums from the communist era. Both were frequent destinations for school fieldtrips and foreign visitors.

Klement Gottwald Museum

Expositions: history of the revolutionary workers’ movement and the KSČ (Czechoslovak Communist Party) from the beginning of the 19th c. to the present day (the documentation of individual exhibition spaces is complemented by authentic sound recordings and slide programs; the last exhibition hall includes an audiovisual program entitled “The Path of Socialism,” depicting the results of socialist construction in Czechoslovakia); one part of the exposition is the Klement Gottwald Memorial Hall (120 short documentary films); expositions are complemented by thematic exhibits on the most significant periods and events of the workers’ movement and the KSČ and the anniversaries of political figures.

History: the museum was opened in 1954; it is located in the renaissance revival building of the former City Savings Bank of 1894 (architects Antonin Wiehl and Osvald Polívka)

Collections: political posters, banners, emblems, photographs; mementoes of Kl. Gottwald, A. Zápotocký and other leading figures of the KSČ; newspapers, periodicals, brochures, artistic works, medals, the first London edition of the Manifesto of the Communist Party from February 1848, a postcard with Lenin’s signature, objects from Saljut 6 (the 1st international space flight of Czechoslovak-Soviet friendship in 1978), original pen-and-ink drawings by Jean Effel reacting to the Munich betrayal, Julius Fučík’s indictment and death sentence

V.I. Lenin Museum

Expositions: on the first and second floors the life and work of V.I. Lenin as a brilliant leader of the world proletariat, founder of a new type of revolutionary party, creator of the world’s first socialist state; basic writings and essays of V.I. Lenin; the influence of Leninism, the CPSU (Communist Party of the Soviet Union) and Lenin personally on the origin and development of the KSČ; theory and praxis of the leading role of the communist party during all historical stages (preparation for the revolution, the overthrow of tsarism, the battle against capitalism, the period of civil war, and the years of socialist construction); Lenin’s experiences from the battle against revisionism and opportunism and in the international workers’ movement; Lenin’s theoretical and practical activity during the formation of the first socialist state; his plan for the socialist transformation of a backwards country; the origin of the global socialist system as the avant-garde of social development; the expansion of the international workers’ and national liberation movements; a visit to the museum includes a film showing and a viewing of [POLYEKREN – ed. I don’t know this word], which concludes the topic of the history of the CPSU; documentation is offered in all major languages.

History: the core of the museum is the Lenin Hall (where in January 1912, Lenin led the all-Russian SDDSR conference, known as the Prague conference), opened in 1945 in the former People’s House which since 1907 has been a center of the Czech workers’ movement (the editorial office and the printing house of The Rights of the People, known after the founding of the KSČ as Red Right) and played a key role in the clash between the Czech working class and the governing bourgeoisie in December 1920; in 1948 part of the People’s House was set aside for the construction of the Lenin Museum, prepared in cooperation with the Central V.I. Lenin Museum in Moscow and opened in 1953; the Lenin Hall is also used by Pioneers for the taking of celebratory oaths and for induction into the ranks of the SSM (Socialist Youth Union).

Collections: historical material (photographs and negatives, Russian and Czech newspapers, facsimiles, historical posters, flyers, photographs, banners, awards); the archive of photos is among the largest of its type in the ČSSR.

Source: Václav Pubal, Muzea a Galerie v ČSR (Praha: Olympia, 1985).