On May 14, 2023, the Transport Company of the Capital City of Prague (DPP) will commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of its museum located at the Střešovice Depot. As part of the celebratory events, the MHD Museum will enrich its collection by acquiring the historic Praga NDO tram. Additionally, the DPP has announced plans to construct a new hall, with construction set to begin in the autumn.

According to a press release by the DPP, the museum has attracted over half a million visitors, and the displayed collection of vehicles has nearly doubled over the years.

The latest addition to the museum’s collection is the Praga NDO, the first Czechoslovak bus with a right-hand drive, which was manufactured in 1948. Produced for an additional two years, four hundred units of the Praga NDO bus were assembled in Prague and Vysoké Mýto.

With the inclusion of this vehicle, the MHD Museum completes its compilation of the most significant post-war buses that were supplied to and operated by the DPP in Prague’s public transportation system. Jan Šurovský, a member of the board and the technical director of the DPP – Surface, stated, “Our technicians will restore the bus and endeavor to bring its interior back to its original condition. We aim for it to be operational by 2025, coinciding with the celebration of not only 100 years of regular bus service in Prague but also 150 years of public transportation in the capital city.”

Earlier this year, the DPP announced a public tender for the construction of a new two-story exhibition hall for historic buses and road-working vehicles, which are considered national technical monuments. The estimated budget for the project is 150 million Czech crowns. Twenty parties have expressed interest in participating in the competition, and the winner will be announced by the end of June. The construction itself is projected to take twenty months.

The new exhibition hall, situated in the lower courtyard of the depot and embedded into a slope towards Cukrovarnická Street, will comprise two floors. The ground floor will serve as a permanent exhibition space for historic buses, while the upper floor will feature rotating displays of smaller road vehicles. The facility will also include areas for lectures, seminars, and exhibitions, with direct access to the upper floor from the courtyard.

Over the past thirty years, the Prague MHD Museum has significantly expanded its collection of historic vehicles. It currently houses 46 trams, 12 buses, two bus wrecks (which will be restored and added to the exhibition), three trolleybuses, two metro cars, and six utility vehicles, including one fire truck and five maintenance vehicles for the tram network. The museum’s ongoing commitment to expanding its collection preserves the rich history of public transportation in Prague, ensuring that future generations can appreciate and learn from it.

Article by Prague Forum