E-SHOP

Exposition

The Karel Zeman Museum presents the life’s work of the world-renowned filmmaker Karel Zeman and his cinematic special effects, which made Czech cinematography world famous in the 20th century. The museum maps the life and work of Karel Zeman from its beginnings – from his first animations and puppet films in the 1940s to work from his last creative period. A substantial part of the museum is dedicated to his most significant films – Journey to the Beginning of Time, The Fabulous World of Jules Verne, and The Fabulous Baron Munchausen. The museum’s playful approach to the exhibition is unique. It allows visitors to participate directly – to try out with their own photo and video cameras selected special-effect techniques that Zeman used in his films.

The individual rooms of the museum are conceived as movie studios, and there are small stages with backdrops that visitors can step into and shoot their scenes. They can take a ride on a flying machine, or walk around the moon like Baron Munchausen, or take the controls of the famous submarine from The Fabulous World of Jules Verne. Also, part of the exhibition features previously unpublished photographs, original puppets, and other documentary materials from the life and work of this visionary filmmaker. The museum is an interactive and playful place focused on families with children from the Czech Republic and abroad. In the long term, the museum will become an institute preserving and promoting the legacy of the director and fine artist Karel Zeman, offering a wide range of activities for the general public and for specialists from the Czech Republic and abroad.

Interactive tablet guide available in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese.

Enjoy the exhibition with an audio guide – a guided tour for your ears through the world of Karel Zeman. The audio guide seamlessly complements and enhances your museum experience! We’ve prepared an English and a German version for you. Simply download the TourStories app, scan the QR code in the exhibition and enjoy the commentary.
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Save time during the exhibition and download the app now

Karel Zeman Museum has full wheelchair access.

We recommend 1-2 hours for the visit. The museum is quite small but full of interactive features that you will have fun with.

Karel Zeman Museum is under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, for the year 2021.

Exposition games

We have prepared some exciting thematic motivation games for our exposition. Your children will enjoy the visit even more and they will learn many interesting facts about work of Karel Zeman. Free for visitors of our exposition.

Journey to the Beginning of Time game
This game is for little adventurers

(4 – 7 years old)

Children will go through some checkpoints and they will learn more about history of our planet, prehistoric amimals and famous Karel Zeman film. They will find their own trilobite in the finish of the game and they can take it home as a souvenir.
This game includes a coloured map, instructions with tasks and stickers.

It is available in English, French and Czech.
The Discovery Game Invention for Destruction
For children from 7 to 12 years old. The game worksheet will guide them through the film Invention for Destruction. Children will be challenged with questions to help them discover how Karel Zeman created his mixed-media films and how the special effects used to shape his world were created. After answering a series of questions, they can identify the radio frequency needed to get an access code. This code can then be exchanged for an item of treasure that you can buy for the children at the museum shop (or you can bring your own).

It is available in English and Czech.

Special Thanks

The Karel Zeman Museum was created thanks to the combined efforts of C&COM Advertising – owner of the Aura-Pont copyright agency, Punk Film – an audiovisual production company – and the family of Karel Zeman. The exhibition was jointly conceived and designed by Jakub Fabel and Ondřej Beránek together with co-author Marcel Kral. We wish to express our particular gratitude to Ludmila Zemanová and Linda Zemanova-Spaleny for providing materials from their personal archives, for granting the use of copyright materials and for their involvement in all aspects of the creation of the museum.