Fortress of Knowledge

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Olomouc

Barrier-free destination

For families with kids

The Fortress of Knowledge is an interactive museum of Palacký University in Olomouc, which introduces science and research to all age categories in an entertaining way.

It can be found in the former large artillery warehouse in the grounds of the Baroque Crown Fortress. Next door you can also visit the Olomouc Fortress Museum. Individual exhibitions are dedicated to water, light and darkness, there are also scientific workshops and a digital planetarium.

In the Fortress of Knowledge, you can experience experiments and see things up close that you won't see anywhere else. For example, you can walk through a model of a brain, meet larger-than-life aquatic insects, flood a city with a century of water, solve giant puzzles or explore the starry sky in the digital planetarium.

EXPO Science in the Fortress

The exposition presents the history of the Crown Fortress, tells about the origins of the Olomouc fortress and engagingly summarises events involving Maria Theresa herself and Emperor Franz Joseph I. The central theme of the exposition is the inscrutable 18th century and the army, which always had easy access to the latest scientific and technical knowledge. Dominating the exhibits are 12 large-format panels with a humorous comic story.

Living Water

The exhibit lets you immerse yourself in the riverbed and explore the waterway in detail from its source to its mouth. You will see a model of a fascinating limestone underwater cave and try out a flood model of Olomouc.

Reason in the hand

The exposition allows you to enter an eight-metre-long model of the human brain and thanks to light projection, the neural network in all its complicated beauty will appear before you. The mathematical part of the exposition will offer, for example, a model of the Enigma cipher machine or original wooden 3D puzzles. The so-called gyroscope - a device that is also used on the International Space Station - also offers an experience.

Light and darkness

The exhibition is dedicated to the basic principles of light. Of particular interest is the seven-metre dome of the digital planetarium, which introduces you to various astronomical phenomena. Within the exhibition you can visit a unique model of the eyeball, thanks to which you will get to know in detail the structure of your own eye and also experience what it is like to see the world through the eyes of a fly or dragonfly.

Science workshops

Visit the laboratory of the Fortress of Knowledge and become a real scientist! Many experiments in physics, chemistry and biology await you. Take a peek into the creative workshops, which will give you a glimpse into the lives of previous generations, based on what people have worked with throughout history - from stone, textiles, paper to wood and metal. The workshops also provide learning opportunities for the visually impaired and blind by providing Braille texts and 3D images.