Catalogue of the Exhibition - Architecture, Civil Engineering and Design

National Technical Museum, Prague 2018, 291 pages, 165x245 mm, ISBN 978-80-7037-281-4 The book informs the reader about the collections of architecture and civil engineering of the NTM, about the history of their exhibiting and the origin of the new exhibition. A detailed description is given of exhibited objects such as models, rough drawings, plans, and fragments of constructions. The book is supplemented with a name list of architects and builders and with the list of all exhibits. Construction art and architecture styles are primarily presented through original and new models, which has always been the most illustrative way of presentation both for building contractors and general public. The selected models are supplemented with many original building elements such as doors, stained glass windows, etched glass, or grilles. These all portray the creative work of architects, adventures of constructing, and engineering courage. The birth or the original appearance of some of the constructions is also documented by contemporary film excerpts. Some specimens of chandeliers and lamps point out a high creative culture and inventiveness of Czech designers. A gallery-like installation chronologically illustrates individual architectonic styles, from the historicist styles of the 19th century, through Art Nouveau, and cubism (in the cross space near the entrance to the exhibition hall and in the adjacent longitudinal space along the south front) up to the functionalism and remarkable constructions of the 1980s (in the space across the full width of the hall).