This building, fatefully linked to modern Czech history, was declared a national cultural monument in 1962. Due to its poor technical condition, the historic building of the National Museum was closed to the public in 2011. The author of the reconstruction project is the National Museum Association, consisting of the companies VPÚ DECO Praha, a. s. and SUDOP Praha, a. s. The main architect of the project is Ing. arch. Zdeněk Žilka. After the reconstruction, the building was partially opened on 28 October 2018, and its opening was connected with an exhibition on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Czechoslovak Republic and with an exhibition organized on the 200th anniversary of the National Museum. The permanent exhibitions were gradually opened until 2020.
During the reconstruction, several changes were made to the layout of the building. In the basement of the building and in the covered courtyard, new visitor facilities were built. An interactive centre for students and young people was created on the second floor in the Column Hall. Another new feature for visitors is the possibility to climb into the dome. New lifts to the second basement will take visitors to a connecting corridor that will allow them to pass through to the adjacent New National Museum Building.
Awex has supplied the building with a complete addressable emergency lighting system. The emergency lighting supply included 6 stations including EI30 fire resistance, 2 sets of 120Ah batteries, 12x9 BUS phase failure sensors, 850 Awex addressable luminaires and 90 external addressable modules for the historic chandeliers. It was an honour for Awex to collaborate on such a large project where, with high footfall, there is a great responsibility for a safe emergency lighting system.