Practical Information

The 10th Open House Prague festival takes place May 13–19, 2024. The buildings are open on the weekend of May 18–19. Because the owners of the buildings have joined the festival voluntarily, they get to decide if they want to have their building open for one day only, or for both days. Most of the buildings are open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and tours take place continually all day. However, there are some exceptions, so please make sure that you check the opening times in the description of each building. The accompanying program takes place during the entire week (starting May 13) and features guided walks, discussions, lectures, and more.

Please note that the announced closing time of each building means that the building is closing its doors. At some building, tours take longer, so please come with enough time in advance. The capacity of groups and frequency of tours can change during the day, we try to be flexible and adjust the traffic in the buildings as needed. For this reason, we cannot announce in advance the capacity of groups nor the length of tours, although we have a general idea. The volunteers at the building also need to flexibly adapt to a number of changes throughout the day. Thank you for your understanding!

Admission to all buildings is free of charge and there is no need to register in advance. Some of the accompanying events which take place during the week do require registration or purchase of tickets. The full list of these events will be published in the Events Calendar.

Some of the buildings are freely accessible and you can walk through them at your own pace. In most buildings, however, tours take place in groups of different sizes; these tours run continually. The size of the groups depends on the owners, so we ask that you please respect this restriction. Only then can we cooperate with the owners again in the future. The operation in the buildings can change during the weekend; updates can be found in the festival app, which will be available for download in early May.

Because nearly all buildings can be entered without a prior registration, we never how busy every building is going to be. Our volunteers in cooperation with the owners and managers of the buildings try their best to be as flexible as possible. The organization of tours and the sizes of tours often change during the weekend so that we are able to welcome as many visitors as we can. Some buildings can experience lines, but our volunteers should be able to give you information on the estimated waiting time. Lines are a natural part of all the Open House festivals around the world as well, because the open buildings are usually in great demand. Our goal is to open the city for everybody, which is why we find prior registrations for tours as limititating and also discriminatory for some groups of citizens.

Are you tired of waiting in line? The list of the open building is big enough for you to find another building where waiting won’t be necessary. Maybe you’ll be surprised to find where the festival takes you! If you decide to wait, you can share your recommendations and thoughts with other visitors, because that is another part of the festival – to meet other people and enjoy a unique celebration of architecture for one weekend in a year. Some of the buildings can also be visited as part of walking tours which take place throughout the year.

If you’re accompanied by our volunteers in the buildings (and not by the owners, managers, or employees), they will provide you with information that they have learned during training or by their own preparation. Please be aware that our volunteers cannot provide professional commentary. Such commentary will be provided by the architects of the buildings whom we have asked to join the festival and offer guided tours as part of the accompanying program.

At Open House Prague, you are your own guide, because you’re the one who knows best what kind of buildings you are interested in. You can choose from 115 buildings, which include historical palaces, modern office buildings and interiors, and technical monuments. There are also many buildings that have already been opened during the festival in the past, so if you previously haven’t managed to visit them, you can do so this year. The full program is available on our website, where you can filter the buildings by different criteria. You can also use our new app, available for download for both Android and iOS in early May. The app will give you updates on the traffic and tours in each building, and you can also use it to share your experiences in the chat. When moving around the city, you can use Mapy.cz (available in English and other languages) – just enter “open house prague” in the search bar and you’ll see all the open buildings on the map. Feel free to ask our volunteers in festival t-shirts any questions during the festival.

Starting Monday, May 13, you can visit us at our information center located at the Hybernská Campus (address: Hybernská 998/4, Prague 1). From Monday to Friday, the information center is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on the weekend, it is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. We will gladly answer any of your questions, and you can also shop our merchandise there and support the festival.

Yes, this year’s edition of the Festival Guide is now available for purchase in our online store. You can choose between a printed version and a digital version in pdf format. We will start sending the orders out on Thursday, May 2. Please note that we do not ship internationally. You can have the printed guide delivered via Česká pošta or Zásilkovna; you can also pick up your copy in our information center, which opens on May 13. The guide will also be available for purchase in selected buildings during the weekend: Congress Center Prague, Electrical Enterprises Prague – Bubenská 1, Gráf Hotel – I. P. Pavlova 5, historical building of the National Archives, House of Agricultural Education, Libeň Chateau, and Quadrio. The guide includes complete information about all the open buildings, maps, tips on theme routes, an interview, and an English section especially for foreigners who live in Prague. Only a limited amount of copies has been printed, so do not hesitate with your purchase. By purchasing a copy of the guide, you also support the next Open House Prague!

Join our team of volunteers and help us open the city. Open House Prague is not just about architecture; above all, it’s about people. Only thanks to our volunteers can we open buildings and provide you with a unique experience. We accept volunteer applications all year long and during the festival as well. If you are interested in the city, want to gain new experiences, and meet new people, join us! Volunteers are wanted until the very last minute and sometimes even during the festival weekend. More information and the registration form can be found here.

You can also take part in the photo contest “Otevřená Praha” (“Open Prague”) or the Visual Stories challenge. Share with us your comments, photos, or videos using the hashtags #OpenHousePraha2024, #1OpenHousePraha, #10LetSNami, #ArchitekturaProVsechny, #OtevirameMesto, #OpenHouseEurope, #OpenHouseWorldwide, and the volunteer hashtag #BaviMeTo.

The main topic of this year’s festival is accessibility, which is why we offer special tours for people with hearing or visual disabilities. The tours include interpretation into Czech Sign Language, simultaneous transcription, tactile plans, 3D models of the buildings, and route descriptions. Each building also includes information about wheelchair accessibility. Please note that all of these tours are in Czech only. Please allow prior entry to these groups of visitors. You can also take part in an interactive city game and try for yourself which barriers people with disabilities encounter when moving around the city.

Because Open House Prague also attracts visitors from foreign countries and long-term residents of Prague, we have arranged a number of guided tours in English in selected buildings. The availability of English tours is indicated in the description of each building on the festival’s website (you can use the filter), and the tours take place at particular hours. Most of our volunteers speak English, so feel free to ask them for some basic information or for a fact sheet in English if available. Read our tips for buildings to visit.

Children can attend special guided tours (in Czech only) with Worksheets for Little Architects in selected buildings. As in previous years, there is an open workroom with LEGO bricks, this time located at the Hybernská Campus (open all weekend from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.). You and your children can also collect stickers from buildings that you visit and put them in your festival diary. If you stop by our information center, you can buy matching cards, t-shirts, colored pencils, and other souvenirs. You can also take part in an interactive city game. More details can be found in the section Program for Children.

The festival merchandise is available at the information center, where you can buy t-shirts, posters, colored pencils, bags, and other items. The full range of products is also available in our online store. Unfortunately, we do not ship to foreign countries. By purchasing festival souvenirs, you show us that you enjoy the festival, and that motivates us to organize the festival again.

In each building you will be welcomed by our volunteers and co-operators who will take you through the open premises and answer your questions. Please follow their instructions and only move within the designated areas. We kindly ask you to behave as visitors and not to endanger your safety and the safety of others; otherwise, the organizers have the right to ask you to leave the building. Please note that entering roofs and other areas that are usually inaccessible is at your own risk. Please be considerate of people with reduced mobility or disabilities, elders, pregnant women, and mothers with strollers, and let them enter the building first.

Please note that there are security checks at government or state buildings such as ministries or airports. We therefore ask that you do not bring any sharp or other dangerous objects and large luggage with you on tours.

We kindly ask that you do not take your pets inside the buildings. This restriction does not apply to assistance dogs and guide dogs which accompany people with disabilities.

During the festival and its accompanying events, we take photos and audiovisual recordings which we then use on our website, social media, and in the annual report of Open House Prague which serves to inform about events, to promote, and to give a report about our activity. If you don’t wish to be photographed, please inform our photographers during the festival (they wear a sticker that says “FOTOGRAF” – “photographer”), or reach out to us via e-mail (info@openhousepraha.cz). You can read more about personal data protection here.

The festival is organized by Open House Praha, z. ú., a nonprofit organization which also focuses on various activities for the public throughout the year, including educational programs for children and people with disabilities. The concept of the festival was born in London in 1992 and led by the founder of the festival, Victoria Thornton. In 2015, the festival took place in the Czech Republic for the first time, and it has since become one of Prague’s biggest cultural events. Open House Prague is a proud member of Open House Worldwide, an international network of more than 50 cities on 6 different continents.

We are bound by a licensing agreement with Open City, the founding organization of the international network. All the participating cities share the same values and principles. The founding concept of Open House is to give all people an opportunity to explore their city and build a relationship with the city’s buildings and its open space. Architecture has an impact on the quality of our life, and by making people interest in the stories of buildings and architecture, Open House calls for a discussion on topics related to city development. This is another reason why all Open House festivals around the world are free for the public.

The festival is organized by the nonprofit Open House Praha, z. ú. The event preparations take a lot of year-long work. Help us open the city for everyone! If you enjoyed the festival, you can support us by sending a symbolic admission fee via the payment gateway Darujme.cz. Regular contributors and donors can become members of the Architecture Lovers Club. You can also support us by buying merchandise at our information center or our online store. In addition, you can support us by purchasing a ticket to one of the walking tours that we organize in various languages for expats living in Prague. All current tours can be found on our website in the Events Calendar.

Your support gives us strength and fuels us with energy for future festivals. If you like architecture, subscribe to our newsletter (in English) and stay informed about the next edition of the festival and other events.