Zázvorka Municipal Gallery

U Zázvorky 1210, 549 01 Nové Město nad Metují
+420 491 470 331 | galerie@muzeumnm.cz

Opening hours:
Opening hours vary depending on the current tourist season. Please check the gallery’s website for up-to-date information.

Website

Across two floors, Zázvorka hosts a year-round programme of exhibitions featuring a wide range of artistic techniques. Abstract and figurative painting, photography, woodcuts and sculpture are carefully arranged in the gallery’s small and large halls to create a strong emotional impact. Exhibitors have included the Hollar Association of Czech Graphic Artists, photographer Jindřich Štreit, internationally recognised artist Hesham Malik, and more than a hundred others.

Art and a dungeon

The gallery takes its name from the Zázvorka Tower, an integral part of the building. The ground floor once served as a dungeon and is still accessible today. Next to it you’ll find a lapidarium with stone and wooden artefacts. From the second floor, a spiral staircase leads all the way to the top of the tower. Through its openings you can see the façades of the houses on the main square with their distinctive “swallowtail” gables, Olbram Zoubek’s sculpture Allegory of the Metuje, and the river valley where the Metuje flows around the historic centre on three sides.

Two Vladimírs

The gallery’s collections include works by two notable natives of Nové Město nad Metují. Academic painter Vladimír Rocman (1923–2016) was renowned not only for his painting, but also for his cut-out paper models and for illustrating more than 160 books of fairy tales, encyclopaedias and more.

Vladimír Suchánek (1933–2021) gained worldwide recognition for his lithographs. He was also known for creating ex libris and Czech postage stamps. Music was another passion—he played the clarinet and led the band Grafičanka.

Zázvorka: guardian of the town’s history

On the site where the gallery and tower stand today, the foundation stone of the town was laid on 10 August 1501 by Jan Černčický of Kácov himself—fulfilling his dream of building a “town on the rock”. To protect it, he later built a prison here, complete with a dungeon. It was connected to the Regional Gate. Although the gate has since been demolished, its former location is marked by a lighter strip of paving in U Zázvorky Street.

Contact:

Zázvorka Municipal Gallery
Na Zadomí 1210
549 01 Nové Město nad Metují

+420 491 470 331
galerie@muzeumnm.cz
www.muzeum-nmnm.cz/mestska-galerie-zazvorka

info@muzeumnm.cz
+420 491 472 119

Tourist Information Centre
Nové Město nad Metují
Husovo náměstí 1225
549 01 Nové Město nad Metují

+420 491 472 119
info@muzeumnm.cz
www.mestonaskale/informacni-centrum

Opening hours

Tourist season (May–September)
Mon–Sun: 9.00–17.00
Lunch break: 12.00–12.30

Off-season (October–April)
Mon–Fri: 9.00–16.00
Sat: 10.00–16.00
Sun: Closed
Lunch break: 12.00–12.30