Museum of Romani Culture

Institution in Brno, Czech Republic

The Museum of Romani Culture (Czech: Muzeum romské kultury) is an institution dedicated to the history and culture of the Romani people (Gypsies). It is situated in Brno, Czech Republic.

The Museum was founded in 1991 by members of the Czech Romani intelligentsia, led by Jana Horváthová, in the period of freedom which followed the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia. During its early years, its location moved from one place to another and the institution struggled with financial problems. In December 2000, it moved to its present building on Bratislavská Street in Brno, which is the centre of the local Romani community. The museum is now financed from the state budget.

The Museum of Romani Culture constantly organizes various thematic exhibitions, e. g. Roma in Czechoslovakia (1992), Roma in the City of Brno (1996), Searching for Home (1999), The World through the Eyes of the Roma (1997–2005), The Story of the Roma (2011), Media Image of the Roma from the 19th century to the present (2013), Gypsy Myth (2014), World without Borders. Roma and Sport (2014), Roma Treasure (2016). In 2017, it was a temporary photographic exhibition by Nino Nihad Pušija Parno Gras and an exhibition Without Hate? HateFree ?. In cooperation with the Moravian Gallery, the Museum of Romani Culture has prepared the exhibition The Universe is Black in the Governor's Palace. In 2018, the museum prepared an exhibition by Mire Sveti / Světy Andrej Pešta and Ceija Stojka.

The library sources include important research papers and prints, Romani literature, news articles in Czech and Slovakian (regarding to Roma), news articles about Roma in foreign languages, overview of legislations, printed discussions and debates.

In September 2020, the newly emerging specialized workplace of the museum was introduced the Roma and Sinti Center in Prague. The first center of this type in the capital is to become a space for education and exhibition activities and will function as an information center and a place for community and social gatherings. It will be built in a First Republic villa in Prague's Dejvice at Velvarská 1. The Museum of Romani Culture has been the administrator of the building since 2019. The family house was designed by architects Arnošt (Ernst) Mühlstein and Victor Fürpro in 1937 for Leo František Perutz, a textile entrepreneur. The building will be renovated and purposefully completed, the work is expected to be completed in 2022. The center is to be opened on March 1, 2023.