Kingdom of Railways

The Kingdom of Railways is a model of the entire Czech Republic’s transport network, bringing the whole country together in one place. The exhibition features not only the country’s main landmarks rendered in miniature, but also the tiniest of details – stations, houses, cars, streetlamps, fountains, gardens, trees, bushes and, of course, people going about their everyday business. This miniature world has a life and rhythm of its own, with day turning into night: as soon as dusk falls, lights switch on in the houses and along the streets.

The exhibition’s creators have put in an enormous amount of work, and every model on display is meticulously crafted and remarkably lifelike. Another surprise awaits visitors: each locomotive is fitted with a tiny onboard camera, letting guests of the Kingdom feel like passengers on the train and get a close-up view of everything passing by outside the window.

Beyond this miniature fairy tale, the Kingdom of Railways also features two paper models of Prague: one showing the Czech capital in the 1830s, the other depicting the modern city. Around three thousand houses and countless landmarks were crafted from paper by Rudolf Šíp, who spent 12 years of his life on this remarkable creation.

And surprisingly, that’s still not all – a small world built entirely out of Lego is also part of the exhibition.

By the Around Prague newsroom