During Friday afternoon’s free time, I visited the Military History Museum. It was a thought-provoking, well-organized museum, packed with information and artifacts from the start of Czech history (~800s CE) through the present.
The lighting, music, and displays were dramatically interwoven in the exhibit design, evoking each room’s theme. For example: bright colors and classical music in the weapons treasury; dark lighting and shouting noises in early history; patriotic songs in 1918-38 section (depicting development of Czechoslovak army, fighting amongst the small countries created in Central Europe post WWI); frightening flashes in low-light and explosive sounds in the WWI model trenches. Throughout the exhibits, we saw the evolution of weapons (from plain, to aesthetically artistic, to lack of prettiness in exchange for complicated functionality) and uniforms (according to weather, status, and whether the armies consisted of civilian fighting forces or professional soldiers). It was also interesting to read about the history from a Czechoslovak perspective: what happened in Czech lands and events in Europe that had an affect on the Czechs.
Throughout, I felt an unsettling duality. On one hand, I admired the tools, strategic effort, and culture involved in war: some of the sword hilts and decorated Renaissance guns were beautiful — silver and ivory details. On the other hand, the tragedy, loss, and fright of battles were conveyed through the audiovisuals. The museum can provoke deep questions: about the desire for power rather than having quiet lives, the brutality and scale of killing in war, how weapons and armor show wealth. Humans everywhere — in the Czech Republic and US — face these.
Swanson School of Engineering 