archaeological excavation of the land (ceramics, metals, stone), artifacts of painting, sculpture and decorative arts beginning from the Roman period through Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque style up to the Romanticism of the 19th century. The Department of Ethnography – The stated aim of this department is to gather, in a systemic manner, factual material and data about the history and culture of the people of Czechoslovakia and the other nations of Europe, from the end of the 17th century to the present day. Much of the focus is placed on Slavic nations. The oldest ethnographic collections of the National Museum were inherited from the Jubilee Exhibition of 1891, with the result being that much of the focus has shifted to the past half-century, and the collections of the department are filled with simple wood and ceramic objects, which show the gradual shift from a rural society to one that has become increasingly urbanized. Department of Numismatics – Among the oldest departments in the Museum, it was founded through the gift of Count Sternberk. The goal of this department is to achieve a complete collection of legal tender coins used in past and present day Czechoslovakia. In addition, the department has a large number of foreign coin collections, the most valuable of these being a collection of coins of classical antiquity. Along with collecting coins, the department also maintains a large collection of medals. At present day, the National Museum contains approximately half a million objects. Emanuela Nohejlová-Prátová was department curator from 1930 to 1959. Department of Theater – Originally part of the National Museum Library, it was set up as a separate entity in 1930. Its first collections were primarily drawn from the archives of two theaters: the National Theater and the theater Vinohardy. In the following years, the collections were greatly expanded by the department's founder, Jan Bartos, and his successor, Joseph Knap. The department today contains extensive exhibits on the history of theater in Czechoslovakia, costume designs by prominent Czech artists, music, memorabilia, and items from the Czech puppet theater. The collections primarily contain stagecraft items from the middle of the 19th century to the present day, with efforts being made to enlarge the department's exhibits from the 18th century. Archives The archives contain the rare charts and manuscripts of the Czech history from the 11th to the 20th century; many of the ancient ones have been digitalized.