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3). NArodnI Musbum v Praze. Exposition Le motmmtnf rerolutionnairc hussite. Situation stra-tćgiąue i la veille de la bataille dc Vitkov, Prague, 1420. Des reliefs de la region de Prague permettent de comprendre 1’importance des hauteurs constituant 1’cnjcu des combats. Pour que la carte soit plus elaire, les explications sont inscritcs sur la face infćrieurc dc la plaquc dc vcrre, qui prot^gc cn meme temps la maquctte contrę la poussićre.

jj. Exhibition Hussite Repoltiłionary Morem en t. The strategical position on the cvc of the battlc of Vitkov, Prague, 1420. The relief map of the Prague area brings out the strategie importancc of the hcights for which the battlc was fought. To make the map clearer to follow, the strategie indications and legend arc inscribed on the underside of the glass piąte, which also scrvcs to protect the model from dust.

materiał as a dynamie succession rather than as static objeets. The cxplanatory tcxts, showing their intcrrelation and integrating into an historical synthesis, fali into threc groups: mural inscriptions in the form of short titles, indicated the generał features of a given period; brief texts on glass, at the top of the panel on which the iconographic, graphic or statistical materiał was exhibited, went into the subject in greater detail; labels related either to the auxiliary materials on the panels or to the cxhibits in the showcases below them.

These graded groups of texts madę it possible to differentiate between ex-planations of individual events and thosc of vaster historical cpisodes; this was useful not only for the generał public but also for the morę exigent yisitors wishing to study the movement in greater detail.

The materiał exhibited under glass on the panels was mainly of an iconographical naturę. In this respect, it was felt that the iłlustrations which were not only morę easily grasped but also the best adapted to an exhibition of this kind, were those speaking the language of the time, like the originals in the showcases. For this reason, alongside original i4th and 15 th ccntury paintings and sculpture, the exhibition presented only reproductions or authentic examples of Gothic art, and excluded later descriptive types of historical painting, particularly of the i9th century, and also modern reconstructions. In addition to the iconographical materiał, considerable use was madę of charts and statistics and of original texts in the form of carefully selectcd quotations from chronicles or other historical sources clcarly distinguished by type and presentation from the explanatory texts on the glass of the panels or on the labels.

The auxiliary materiał on the panels was supplemented by original materiał and numerous models exhibited in various parts of the three exhibition rooms (reconsti-tution of towns and castles on the basis of the results of excavations, reconstitution of an armoured wagon, models of the different tactical units of the Hussite army in the field).

With a few exceptions, the showcases were of the usual size (approx. }$X2ox 10 inchcs), in the form of legless desks affixed directly to the walls, on brackets. The upper edge was formed by direct contact between the top and front glass plates of the showcase, without any intervening wooden frame, thus giving a elear view of the exhibited objeets. The panels were of the same width as the showcases below them, and were protected by an easily removable glass piąte.

A guidebook giving an historical account of the exhibits in the different rooms was published in furtherance of the educational purposes of the exhibition. The latter’s scientific value, which was extremely great in that all the available materials of the Hussite period were brought together, classified and analysed for the first time, will bc prescrved for the futurę thanks to the detailed inyentory madę of all the objeets presented.

A series of lectures and evening recitals of mediaeval musie and poetry, held on the great staircase in the National Museum, was organized in conjunction with the exhibition. The intimate naturę of these “staircase concerts” attracted large audiences.

The exhibition aroused very lively interest in Czechoslovak museological circles. Because of its strict obseryance of the principles governing historical exhibitions and the primary emphasis it laid on original materiał, which constituted its basie and main element, it instituted a type of historical presentation that has had a marked effect especially on the historical exhibitions staged by the homeland museums established in Czechosloyakia during the past few years.

( Translated front the C^ecb.)