Trebechovice Museum of Nativity Scenes (Trebechovické muzeum betlému), which was established in 1925 and has been housed in a new museum building since September 5, 2013, belongs among the most popular touristic destinations in Hradec Králové region.
There are currently over 400 nativity scenes or parts of them in the Museum collections. The Trebechovice nativity scene has been part of the collection since 1970 and attracted a large number of visitors. This made it possible to expand the collection further. The first nativity scene was purchased in 1982. The most important Trebechovice Nativity Scene forms a separate exhibition and occupies majority of the museum building space together with artifacts connected with its history, construction and manufacturing. Other nativity scenes are presented at long-term exhibitions. Another important exhibit and cultural monument, which is in the museum's collection, is the Gradual of the Trebechovice Literary Brotherhood (Graduál trebechovického literátského bratrstva) from 1559.
The key exhibit of the Trebechovice Museum of Nativity Scenes is The Trebechovice Nativity Scene (Trebechovický betlém, also known as the Probošt's mechanical Christmas crib). It is an all-wood mechanical nativity scene, which is the work of Josef Probošt, Josef Kapucián and Josef Friml from 1882-1926. Nativity Scene is unique in terms of art and ethnography, but also from a technical point of view. It is also notable for its great aesthetic quality, unlike most other movable cribs, which sacrificed looks for mobility. As one of the most valuable cultural treasures of the country it was declared a National Cultural Monument of the Czech Republic in 1999.
Josef Probošt started creating the nativity scene in 1882, when with the help of his friends he started carving a manger as a gift for his wife, which he donated her in 1885. Then he decided to extend the manger to the whole nativity scene. He turned to the local carver Jan Krištof for the first advices. His dream was to create a nativity scene that "will be the largest and most beautiful in the world, so the Emperor himself will certainly come to see it from Vienna..."
Later, Josef Probošt invited the carver Josef Kapucián to collaborate, returning from a trip around the world aged and almost deaf. The provost offered him food and accommodation as a reward for his cooperation on the nativity scene. Kapucián accepted the offer and began carving the figures. Probošt himself created only a few characters, he participated mainly in scenography, landscape creation, architecture, solving construction problems and work organization. Probošt was met with remorse for not doing business and for a while he interrupted his work. But then he got the idea to portray the ordinary life of the Trebechovice citizens and completely fell into a work on scrib. Scrib and its creators moved to the tenant's room. The so-called "Bethelemans" met here. Apart from the two Josefs, they included the writer Jan Kupka, the shoemaker Odónek Cerný, the farmer Hejcman, the roadmaster Matouš z Boru, the carpenter Jan Podstata, cooper Broucek, the weaver Karel Zelený, the butcher Antonín Kolenec and the young railway worker Jan Sedlácek from Bedovice. Nativity Scene was set in motion tghanks to wok and invention of carpenter, specialized in wooden mechanic mill construction, Josef Friml.
The crib was first exhibited at the Zemská jednota remeslnická ("Provincial Artisan Union") in Chrast in 1906. There the crib was received positively, and was awarded a diploma and a gold medal;however, nobody wanted to sponsor it. Other exhibitions were in the year 1934 in Kostelec nad Orlicí, in 1935 in Prague, in 1936 in Brno and in 1937 in Bratislava, Pieštany and Hlohovec. Continued exhibiting was interrupted by World War II. Later, the crib was exhibited at the World's fair in Montreal (1967), where more than 8 million visitors saw it, at Madurodam in The Hague (1968) and at the Ideal Home Show in London (1970). Each of these displays met with great success. The crib has been exhibited only at the Museum of Trebechovice Museum of Nativity Scenes since 1972.
The Trebechovice nativity scene is completely unique in terms of art and ethnography, but also technical. It also stands out thanks to its quality aesthetics, which, unlike most other movable nativity scenes, was not suppressed precisely because of mobility. The nativity scene contains more than two thousand components. This includes 351 figures, of which over two hundred figures move. In the lower part, we find mainly secular figures, the prototype of which was served by the inhabitants of Trebechovice, who are captured while performing common crafts at that time. In the middle of the third floor there is a manger with the born Jesus. On the fourth to seventh floors, biblical scenes take place, from the Annunciation to the shepherds, through scenes from Jesus' life to his ascension. The whole nativity scene, except for a few parts, is made of wood. The creators used linden wood for the figurines, the movable mechanism was made of hornbeam and beech wood and is powered by an electric motor. The nativity scene has dimensions: length 6.9 m, height 2.2 m and depth 1.9 m. It weighs three tons, without a chassis 1.2 tons. A complete reconstruction of the Nativity scene was done in the years 2014-2016.
The Trebechovice nativity scene combines a Christmas and a passion nativity scene, as well as biblical stories and real-life characters from a small town at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Altogether, the nativity scene contains over two thousand components (2033 pieces in inventory). The landscape consists of seven terraces and one small terrace. These are filled with figures representing the indigenous inhabitants of Bohemia and biblical figures. Of the 351 figures, one hundred and fifty move with belts, and fifty-one figures perform more complex movements reminiscent of human ones. They are carved from linden wood, allegedly only three come from pear wood. The figures are about 10-20 cm high and, unlike most nativity scenes, they are not polychrome, which the authors wanted to emphasize the unity of the materials.
Source: excerpted and translated from
Wikipedia