About Butcher's Museum

Jan Pavlíček senior

He was born on 18 January 1954, grew up in Tasov in the district of Třebíč. In 1972 he successfully finished his studies for „Potraviny Brno“ in Žďár nad Sázavou. He went through his military service in Prague.

After completing his service, he started working for „Potraviny Žďár nad Sázavou“, and in 1976 passed the exam for shop keeper. He accepted the position of shop keeper of meat and charcuterie in Náměšť nad Oslavou for „Potraviny Třebíč“. In 1981 he completed his studies and exam on meat cutting and dressing.

n 1978 he got married. With his wife Jaroslava, raised four children. He has motivated his children to love the profession of butcher. His eldest daughter, Veronika, trained to become the shop-assistant in food shop, his son Jan the butcher-charcutier. His daughter Jaroslava has, after finishing her studies at the Technical College of Meat Technology in Prague, continued her studies at the University of Veterinary and Pharmacy in Brno – herewith she was fulfilling Dad's big dream. Unfortunately, he could not attend her graduation ceremony. His youngest daughter Vendula has finished her studies of the Hotel School in Velké Meziříčí.

Late in 1995, he finished the building of production rooms with the shop on the square. In his time, it was widely known as the most up-to-date business in the area. It was a hard period for his whole family which they dedicated to the development of their firm. His wife and children were all standing by and supporting him.

He used to dream about founding a Butcher's Museum in his old age, that would always be a reminder of the history of butchery for everybody.

On 21 February 2011, he died suddenly, leaving his family who loved him so much.

History of the museum

In October 2011, Jan Pavlíček jr. finished the building of meat production halls on Masaryk's Square nr.966. During its construction, he decided to separate some space in the administration building for displaying the museum exhibits.

Late the same year, the Pavlíček family finished the display and decided for ceremonial opening on 21 January 2012.

They continue bringing and restoring more and new exhibits into original condition. Since the opening, in average there is 1 exhibit added per week!

Together with enlarging the collection, there was a need to be place exhibits in adequate rooms that would not only provide area for the exhibits but also a comfortable environment for customers. The idea of building separate rooms of the museum was born, and in 2013 the Pavlíček family bought a piece of land in Náměšť nad Oslavou for that purpose. That is how the project for matching the history of the butcher's profession with the education of students and the wide public was born.

On 21 December 2014, in the framework of co-operation with the municipality of Třebíč, there was a display of Jewish butcher's workshop originated in the House of Seligmann Bauer in the Jewish Quarter. The most attractive exhibit being, without doubt, the „kosher“ knife used for ritual slaughter.

At present, we have been working on realization of our project.

You can see at us:

• The largest collection of butchery machines and small tools in the Czech Republic, displaying the meat production since 1850
• The collection of emblems with the butchery theme
• The collection of knives, sharpening steels, racks, axes, cleavers, handsaws…
• The picture reproductions with the butchery theme
• Certificates of apprenticeships and journeyman´s certificates
• Washing tub made of one-piece log
• The butcher´s sledges for the dog
• and much more…