The collection of astronomy has been created uniformly since
1910, beginning with the donation of Frantiτek Fiala,
founder of the geodetic group of the Museum. In the 50s and
60s, a collection of the Klementinum observatory and several
other collections were taken over. Astronomical instruments
in the collection date back to the 16th - 20th centuries,
one was even made in the 15th century. These are instruments
used in the past for astronomical measurements and also
demonstrational objects for education and representation of
the space arrangement. Total number of instruments is 407,
of them 174 telescopes and 139 sundials. The collection is
divided into respective files: gnomonic instruments,
protractors, space models, telescopes, pictures, and
miscellaneous. A unique exhibit of the collection is a late
Gothic astrolabe from the mid-15th century, instruments of
Erasmus Habermel from the turn of 16th and 17th centuries.
The National Technical Museum has in its possession a world
famous evolution series of astronomical instruments,
beginning with two so-called Tychonian sextants from the
period of sojourn of Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler on the
court of Rudolf II in Prague. The first of them was built by
Jost Bürgi around 1600, the second by E. Habermell in Prague
in 1600. The series continues with two quadrants from the
18th century, whole-circle instruments (alt-azimuth, passage
instrument) from the 19th century and is completed with
a Zeis telescope from the early 20th century. In addition to
an outstanding collection of sundials from the 16th - 19th
centuries, the Museum owns also a cabinet horologe of P.
Engelbert Seige from the late 18th century.
