Keeping tradition alive: Czech puppetry and Shrovetide processions at the Chrudim Puppetry Museum and the Vysočina Open-Air Museum

Marrionets, rod puppets, string puppets, finger puppets – these puppet types are known all around Europe and even all over the world. But what makes Czech puppetry so special that it has been inscribed on UNESCO’s Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2016? It is the unusual importance, variety and popularity of Czech puppetry, understood as an intersection of performative and fine arts – an unusual unity between the performative part (the actor) and the visual one (the puppet). Even today, there are many professional and amateur puppet ensembles and troupes operating within the Czech Republic.

Learn more about this phenomenon at the Chrudim Puppetry Museum and enjoy a short puppet performance. Then get ready for a short ride to the Vysočina Open-Air Museum, where some of the spectacular houses which show the region’s vernacular architecture were in use until very recently, and where you can find out more about crafts typical of this part of Europe, from flax weaving to carpentry. Besides that, in the Vysočina Open-air Museum you’ll find another UNESCO-listed tradition: The Shrovetide door-to-door processions with their typical carnival masks.

Recommended for members of: ICME, COSTUME, ICOFOM, ICOM – CC, ICDAD, ICFA

Museums Visited

Chrudim Puppetry Museum
https://www.puppets.cz/en

Vysočina Open-Air Museum – Branch of the National Open-Air-Museum
https://www.nmvp.cz/en/vysocina

Itinerary

8:30
Departure to Chrudim (from parking lot of the hotel Corinthia)

10:45
Welcome to Chrudim Puppetry Museum

11:00 
Guided tour of the museum

12:00
Coffee break

12:15 
Live puppet theatre performance

13:15
Departure to Vysočina Open-Air Museum

14:00  
Lunch

15:00 
Guided tour of the museum, craft workshop sessions

17:00 
Departure to Prague

19:00 
stimated arrival in Prague (Prague Congress Centre)

Please be at the departure point 15 minutes prior to departure.