The European Sword

An exhibition on the symbolism, production, and evolution of swords across the centuries

The exhibition builds on the long-standing scholarly focus of the Technical Museum in Brno on the history of ironworking and metalworking crafts. It tells the story of the long iron sword, spanning more than three thousand years, in the spirit of the motto: “Metal reflects the memory of Europe—its ingenuity, craftsmanship, and spiritual strength”.

Swords represented the pinnacle of craftsmanship in their time—their function and methods of use evolved, as did how they were perceived by society. On the one hand, they were symbols of courage, power, and justice; on the other, they were also attributes of death, war, and destruction. The European sword is proof that European culture, its knowledge, and its skills are a dynamic entity that, for much of history, has been able to remain at the forefront of development and progress from a global perspective.

The backbone of the presentation in this imaginary sword treasury consists of ten top-quality sword replicas from key periods of their development, created by Patrick Bárta, a renowned swordsmith, respected expert, conservator-restorer, and the exhibition’s initiator. He created his reconstructions of historical artifacts based on archaeological finds, the study of sources, and collaboration with colleagues from the Brno branch of the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences. Bárta’s precise replicas will become a permanent part of the museum’s collections and a testament to excellent artistic craftsmanship. For the production of swords has always been closely linked to art, as well as to the magic and spiritual life of their makers and owners. The replicas are complemented by approximately fifty original swords, primarily archaeological artifacts on loan from our major museums, such as the Moravian Museum, as well as a presentation of unique swords associated with Moravian history: the two oldest surviving provincial governor’s swords and symbols of the identity and continuity of Moravian administration—the sword of Jan of Rottal from 1650 and the slightly younger so-called Kolowrat Sword, which originally belonged to František Karel Libštejnský of Kolowrat. These most significant insignia of Moravia are currently on display in castle exhibitions; the Rottal Sword is housed at the castle in Holešov, and the Kolowrat Sword is in the private collection of the family of Jan Kolowrat Krakowski and is on display in Rychnov nad Kněžnou. They will be displayed together for the first time during the first few weeks of the exhibition. It was a great honor for the TMB Conservation Methodology Center to work on the research and restoration of Jan of Rottal’s sword. The presentation in the sword treasury concludes with examples of ceremonial swords currently in use—the insignia of the University of Defense

In a space inspired by a swordsmith’s and restoration workshop, the exhibition highlights the profound influence of the ingenuity of Old World craftsmen on the refinement and characteristics of sword production, as well as on other industries. It is typical in human history that the best materials and technologies are first applied in the military. However, no innovation would have been possible without key advances in iron processing. This topic is also one of the pillars of TMB’s professional focus, which addresses it not only theoretically but also practically through experimental reconstructions and workshops at its technical heritage sites. For example, every year it organizes public demonstrations of iron production in replicas of ancient Slavic furnaces and revives traditional damascening techniques, thereby helping to convey the difficulty and sophistication of ancient crafts. The work of the TMB Conservation Methodology Center also ties into the technological and material aspects. The center’s experts utilize the results of experimental archaeology and material analyses in the care of historical swords and other weapons, which allows for a better understanding of their construction, properties, and methods of production. The exhibition thus connects the past with the present and demonstrates that the study of the sword is also a study of European technological and cultural memory.

The exhibition runs from April 15 to November 15, 2026.

Text guides in English

• Swordsmith Workshop (pdf)
• Treasury of Swords (pdf)

The exhibition is organized in partnership with the Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, and the Moravian Museum.

The exhibition is held under the patronage of Brig. Gen. Jan Farlík, Ph.D., Rector and Commander of the University of Defense.

The exhibition is held under the patronage of Jan Grolich, Governor of the South Moravian Region.

Police Headquarters in Brno 1918–1945

The Technical Museum in Brno is presenting a new exhibition titled “Brno Police Headquarters 1918–1945” with the subtitle “In the Service of Fighting Crime,” which opened to the public on April 1, 2026. The exhibition was prepared by the Brno Police History Club, with which the museum has a long-standing partnership. Visitors will be able to view the exhibition, which covers an area of more than 600 m², until December 30, 2026.

The exhibition presents the scope of authority, organization, and structure of the state police authority, as well as the uniformed and non-uniformed security forces from 1918 to 1945. It traces the development of the equipment, weapons, tools, and resources used by members of the Police Directorate in the performance of their duties. It also explores the history of individual branches of criminal investigation and their methods. It presents the stories of members of the security corps, ranging from senior officials to rank-and-file officers, as well as the Police Directorate’s involvement in the daily life of the city of Brno. The exhibition also commemorates members of the Police Directorate in Brno who gave their lives in the line of duty, as well as those who were persecuted during the period of oppression for their involvement in the national resistance.

Electron Microscopy Days 2026
at the Technical Museum in Brno

Electron microscopes are among the most versatile instruments for viewing the micro world. Their resolving power is far superior to that of light microscopes. The first electron microscope was built in 1933 by Max Knoll (1897–1969) and Ernst Ruska (1906–1988), winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986. Thanks to a system of electromagnetic lenses, this microscope greatly surpassed the resolution of an optical (light) microscope. The first optical microscopes appeared in Europe in the 17th century.

The Technical Museum in Brno offers a unique encounter with historical electron microscopes with the participation of experts from Thermo Fisher Scientific, a global leader in the development and manufacture of electron microscopes:

Program for the public

– Friday, March 27, 2026

2:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.
Full admission fee – with the option of touring the entire museum.

5:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.
Free admission – only to the Optics and Computer Technology exhibitions.

All-day program

Experts from Thermo Fisher Scientific will demonstrate selected electron microscopes in the Optics exhibition at the Technical Museum in Brno. They will explain their function and use to interested visitors and give a detailed presentation on how to work with these microscopes.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to try them out for themselves. The exhibition also covers the development of optical microscopes. The Computer Technology exhibition, which deals with the development of computers since ancient times, will also be open.

The World of Plastic Modeling

17. 9. 2025 – 22. 3. 2026

The Technical Museum in Brno, in cooperation with the Brno Plastic Modelers Club, has prepared an exhibition entitled The World of Plastic Modeling. It is the largest exhibition of this hobby in Europe. The exhibition takes visitors into the world of miniature history in maximum detail.

Plastic model making is a relatively widespread hobby among the male population. Ideally, it combines manual dexterity, artistic sensibility, patience, and an interest in history, especially the history of technology. The Czech Republic is one of the leading countries in terms of the number of companies producing plastic models and various accessories for them.

At the exhibition, you will learn what a plastic model actually is, what this hobby entails, and where studying model templates can take us. You will see the development of kits, but especially a large number of models of aircraft, military and civilian technology, cars, ships, submarines, figures, and dioramas, in scales of 1:350, 1:144, 1:72, 1:48, 1:35, 1:32, 1:24, 1:20, and others, all in top-quality workmanship from leading Czech and Slovak modelers. You will see detailed interior workmanship and realistic surfaces of real technology transferred to a smaller scale. Construction procedures will show how the final model is created.

Mimo jiné je k vidění například válečná ponorka 1 : 72 (model o délce 1,3 m) nebo zajímavá ukázka jednoho typu letadla v měřítcích 1 : 144 až 1 : 24. Můžete porovnat, jak se technika v jednotlivých obdobích měnila. Výstava zmiňuje i počátky výroby plastikových modelů v ČSSR, postup přípravy a výroby plastikové stavebnice. Ukážeme vám postupný vznik modelu od otevření krabice až po jeho umístění do vitríny. Nahlédnete i do problematiky modelářských soutěží, protože i ty jsou nedílnou součástí světa plastikového modelářství.

Among other things, you can see a 1:72 scale model of a war submarine (1.3 m long) or an interesting display of one type of aircraft in scales ranging from 1:144 to 1:24. You can compare how technology has changed over time. The exhibition also mentions the beginnings of plastic model production in Czechoslovakia and the process of preparing and producing plastic kits. We will show you the gradual creation of a model, from opening the box to placing it in a display case. You will also learn about model-making competitions, as they are an integral part of the world of plastic model-making.

The model-making population is aging, as the younger generation is mainly interested in the virtual world. We believe that organizing an exhibition on plastic model-making could attract more young people to this hobby. The museum shop will offer a selection of basic tools and models, chosen to the best of our knowledge for their simplicity and suitability for beginner modelers.

Foto Eva Řezáčová, ©Technické muzeum v Brně

Wind in the Sails

Exhibition marking the 20th anniversary of the TMB Friends’ Circle – Windmills Section

The Technical Museum in Brno has opened a new small exhibition entitled “Wind in the Sails.” The museum prepared it in cooperation with the Windmills Section, which has been part of the Friends of the Technical Museum in Brno for 20 years. The exhibition, consisting of information panels, photographs, videos, collection items from the field of milling, and models of windmills, will be open to visitors from February 18 to June 14, 2026.

This small exhibition aims to present the work of a group of experts and windmill enthusiasts who have been working together for twenty years, since 2005, in the Windmills Section of the Friends’ Circle of the Technical Museum in Brno. The section has set itself three main areas of activity: informing and educating its members in the field of milling and monument preservation, mutual assistance in the rescue and restoration of windmills, and the promotion of windmills as unique technical monuments.

The Windmills section brings together everyone interested in this topic, especially windmill owners in the Czech Republic and abroad, museum and heritage institute staff, media representatives, teachers, and professional and amateur researchers.

Photo Eva Řezáčová, ©Technické muzeum v Brně

Digital watches
7. 3. – 6. 6. 2023

The exhibition, entitled Digital watches, will present to the public a collection of 264 pieces of wristwatches with electric and electronic movement, quartz (silicon) oscillator or controlled by remote signal and partly using a digital time indicator, produced between the 1950s and 1990s. This collection, which has been part of the museum’s Clock collection since 2020, is undoubtedly the most comprehensive and representative material documentation of the modern era of the development of the watch as an everyday object that has accompanied mankind in unprecedented numbers since the 1970s, at least in the Czech Republic.

The collection has been added to the collection of the Technical Museum in Brno thanks to the long-term cooperation with the passionate, dedicated and deeply erudite collector and watchmaking expert, engineer Libor Hovorka. The collection includes watches from the following countries: the USA, Germany (GDR and Germany), Czechoslovakia, USSR, Switzerland, Great Britain, Poland, Bulgaria, Japan, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong. Thanks to this, the visitors of the exhibition “Digital” can not only admire the individual exhibits, but also get an overview of the worldwide chronological development of this segment of wristwatches.

Did you know that the first digital watch with an LED dipole made its world premiere in 1971? It was a product of the American company Hamilton called Pulsar. Digital watches with LED display were then produced until the mid-1980s.

Photos from the exhibition, ©Technické muzeum v Brně

Machines of Leonardo da Vinci

In his lifetime, Leonardo da Vinci devoted himself to art, science and technology. It was no exception that one conditioned the other. The exhibition at the Technical Museum in Brno focuses mainly on his technical inventions. It is known, for example, that Leonardo made detailed studies of birds based on his observations and then designed plans for flying machines based on them. His diaries also contain military inventions, everyday objects (calculator, drill) and much more.

The exhibition, entitled Leonardo da Vinci’s Machines, offers a selection of more than fifty models of da Vinci’s machines, created by Italian craftsmen exactly according to his plans and designs. Visitors can test the functionality of some of them (e.g. hoist, ball bearing, flywheel, mirror chamber), while other machines can be viewed up close. These include, for example, a slewing crane, a steam cannon, a self-propelled carriage (automobile). In addition to these models, the exhibition also offers reproductions of famous da Vinci paintings such as the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, The Lady with the Prism and others. All this will be complemented by information panels and audiovisual projections.

The exhibition is organized by the Technical Museum in Brno in cooperation with the ARANEUS production company.

Photo from the exhibition, ©Technical Museum in Brno

Mediální partner výstavy

The exhibition on the history of enamelling and its various techniques. It is the very first exhibition on this subject of such an extent in the Czech Republic.

The exhibition presents historical development of enamelling and a whole range of enamelling techniques, its variability and ability to adapt to the actual trends of the given period and culture. Various enamelled objects will be on display, ranging from small archaeological findings, through jewelry up to liturgical objects and coronation regalia. The second part of the exhibition focuses on technical usage of enamelling like e. g. household utensils or the industrial use of enamel.

The exhibition also shows restoration of historical objects decorated with enamel and also presents works of contemporary artists. It also includes an interactive part for both children and adults.

The exhibition lasts from 31 October, 2017 to 3 June, 2018.

Only during the first month of the exhibition, i.e. from August 31 till November 30, 2017, the replica of the crown of the Holy Roman Empire will be on display.

The museum prepared the exhibition in cooperation not only with a lot of local institutions (museums, galeries, producer of enamelled products) but also with foreign ones, e.g. British Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Museum Cyprus, Kunsthistorishes Museum Wien.

The exhibition is held under the auspices of the Minister of Culture Mr. Daniel Herman.