Trebechovice Nativity Museum

Josef Probost, a farmer and carver from Trebechovice, began a nativity scene in 1885 and worked on it for the rest of his life; Josef Kapucian, a joiner, built the mechanism, and Josef Friml added carving. The result, finished around 1907, has roughly two thousand carved wooden figures, of which about four hundred move, driven by a hand-cranked wooden gear train with no metal parts in the mechanism at all. It is not just a stable: the scene runs the whole biblical narrative alongside scenes of Czech village trades - ploughing, smithing, weaving, baking - so it doubles as a record of nineteenth-century rural work. It was shown at the Montreal Expo in 1967 and declared a national cultural monument in 1999. The museum around it covers nativity scenes generally, and the Probost crib is set out in its own hall and demonstrated in motion.

What you actually see

• About two thousand carved figures - four hundred of them moving.
• An all-wooden mechanism - a hand-cranked gear train with no metal parts.
• Village trades alongside the Nativity - ploughing, smithing, weaving and baking.
• A national cultural monument - declared in 1999 and shown at Expo 67.

When to go

All year. Two hours.

Honest expectations

The crib is demonstrated at set times through the day rather than running continuously. Closed Mondays. The museum is otherwise small. The town has little else for visitors.

Nearby

Hradec Kralove is fifteen kilometres west.