Puppet Museum in Pilsen has extended the exhibition by Trnka’s diorama Fireflies’ Wedding

The unique Jiří Trnka’s diorama Fireflies’ Wedding will enrich the permanent exhibition of the Puppet Museum in Pilsen for at least ten years. A spatial depiction of one of Jan Karafiát’s Fireflies stories with 57 puppets was created by the Pilsen native in 1939 as a commission for the world exhibition in New York. However, the work did not travel to the US due to the occupation of Czechoslovakia. It remained in Prague and was exhibited in December 1939. The Museum of West Bohemia in Pilsen, which administers the Puppet Museum, restored the diorama in 2012 and it renovated and conserved it again.

The diorama is 2.4 m wide, 1 m deep and 1.2 m high and depicts a story from Karafiát’s book Trnka often worked with. After his studies in 1936, he founded the Wooden Theatre, where he staged three plays which he directed, with two of them being from the life of Fireflies. He also illustrated the book twice. Trnka got a binding commitment for the international exhibition in February 1939 at the last minute before the overseas trip.

The puppets represent fireflies, ladybugs, grasshoppers, and snails. Besides the wedding couple with bridesmaids and the registrar, the scene also includes a choir, band, grasshopper-drawn carriage, and a Firefly family with children. The diorama is glassed and lit.

Go to https://www.muzeum-loutek.cz/ for more information.