New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: The Czech National Museum, located in one of Europe's most touristy-serene capitals -- Prague -- will open an exhibition of face masks on Monday, in a bid to memorialise the extraordinary mobilisation of resources and citizenry willpower, the Central European nation displayed during the peak of COVID transmission in the country.
"With masks, it is clear, they are a symbol of the situation," Mira Burianova, the curator of Mask exhibition in The Czech National Museum was quoted as saying by Reuters.
The exhibit in the National Museum in Prague’s Wenceslas Square includes folk motifs, fun designs and country's favourite mask design -- its national flag. The collection has been curated by Mira and her colleagues from hundreds of masks sent in by the public. The collection also includes the masks made by the autistic children and prisoners in Correction Homes across the country.
Earlier in March, the Czech government was the first governing authority outside the Mainland China which mandated the use of masks in Public, flouting which could result in an on the spot fine of 360 Euros. Although, not completely credited to the mandatory use of masks, but the country so-far has been able to contain the spread of Coronavirus with 8,725 cases and 304 deaths, according to the data available on Johns Hopkins University's COVID-tracker. This is half the number of active COVID cases in its Southern neighbour Austria, and much lesser than its western neighbour Germany which is currently bearing the eighth largest COVID caseload in the world.
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At the peak of outbreak in March, the mask collection points were set up in specific municipalities and Prague City Hall to distribute them to the vulnerable groups.
The students in country's Universities made hundreds of masks on a daily basis and sent it further to their respective municipalities. A website Damerousky.cz showed an interactive map displaying the mask collection points for those offering or looking for the masks. Even country's prison authorities distributed sewing machines to prisoners to enable them contribute in supplying the much needed protective face gears across the country.
The face mask exhibition opens on Monday in Prague's Czech National Museum, just as the government relaxes its mask policy which has been put in place since 18th March. People no longer have to wear masks outdoors by law but must still do so on public transport and in public buildings -- including the museum where the exhibition is set to open.
Posted By: Abhinav Gupta
