See Renaissance masterpieces without leaving Prague

If you were lucky, you saw the originals in the Louvre Museum or the Uffizi Gallery. Or they might remind you of pop culture references, memes, or tacky souvenirs from Italy. Either way, now you have a chance to see the Italian Renaissance masters’ best-known works in an exhibition of replicas that runs from March 1 to May 30 at the Mánes Exhibition Hall.

The exhibition "Great Masters of the Renaissance" is a selection of works from 12 of the world’s leading galleries and museums in European capitals such as Madrid, London, Paris, Florence, Venice, and Vienna. The high-quality reproductions are life-size, giving an accurate idea of the around 40 works of art they represent.

They also allow visitors to admire the details up close, which is not possible with many of their originals – the Louvre, for instance, displays the Mona Lisa behind thick armored glass and from a distance of a few meters. The exhibition is partially interactive, allowing visitors to touch some of the works.

The exhibition's press spokesman René Kekely told Novinky that the statue of David, which is five meters tall and weighs more than half a ton, was designed by the Austrian artist Manfred Waba, and created with the help of a 3D printer for the exhibition. The technique makes all of its details, including the private body parts, identical to the original.

Waba himself chose the Mánes gallery as the setting of the exhibition, which required the space to undergo a transformation to enhance its atmosphere. As such, for the first time in the history of Mánes, the glass ceiling in the exhibition hall will be covered.