Christmas with aroma of wood in the Bethlehem Chapel

An exhibition with Christmas feeling, Christmas cribs, wooden products and old Czech folk atmosphere of Christmas.

This year's Christmas exhibition is devoted to wood. The wood belongs to the most original materials, which was used by man to facilitate a life from time immemorial. The exhibition is trying to show how the lives of our ancestors were dependent on the wood.

It was managed to gather a large number of original wooden objects, tools and instruments with which the wood was processing. Visitors can see various kinds of axes, chisels, planes, lathes and an original millwheel etc.
On view there are also tens of Nativity scenes, not only from wood, but also made out of unconventional materials such as glass, iron, paper, textiles, ceramics and various pastas. This year the main inspiration for the invitation to the exhibition is Prague nativity scene by Jiří Laina. At the exhibition is traditionally held a sale of small original Christmas gifts.

The event takes place till 3rd January 2010.
Opening hours daily from 9 am to 6 pm.
On Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve will be open only to 2 pm and on 25th December and 1st January from 1 pm to 6 pm.
Venue: Underground spaces of Bethlehem Chapel in Prague

The Bethlehem chapel has a unique place in the history of Prague. Since the early 15th century Jan Hus, the university master preached here. So the chapel became the symbol of the Hussite movement in Bohemia. It was originated already in 1391 as a place for local preaching in Czech with the capacity of uptill 3000 persons. It represented a typical preaching space of an oblong ground plan with a wooden timber ceiling, a pulpit and high broken windows. In the year 1622 the Jesuits took over the chapel and practiced divine services there again. In 1786 the chapel was abolished and demolished afterwards. An apartment house was constructed on its place. The architect Jaroslav Frágner realised its new construction in the mid- 20th century according to the preserved drawings and paintings. The walls were decorated by paintings complemented with the texts of the Hussite songs from the Jistebniz Hymn Book.