The history of the National Gallery in Prague started to be written in 1796 when a group of significant representatives of the patriotically oriented Czech nobility along with several middle-class intellectuals from the ranks of Enlightenment movement decided (to put it in period terminology) to “elevate the deteriorated taste of the local public.”

The original idea that has lasted since the establishment of the National Gallery has been present in all the complicated peripeties of the Gallery’s development: to elevate the nation’s spirit through works of art. This ideal is considered the mission of the National Gallery even today.

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