Jara Cimrman museum

Our friend Amy recommended that we visit the museum to Jara Cimrman in the basement of the mini Eiffel Tower on the top of Petrin Hill. We've visited the tower several times, but we didn't know that there was a museum in the basement. Since the weather was nice today (and I fear I won't be able to say that again for quite a while) we went for a hike up the hill and went to the museum. The hike was really beautiful because all of the trees are changing color.
Jara Cimrman is a much-loved Czech philosopher, explorer, inventor and all-around Renaissance man. Some of his feats include transversing the Atlantic in a self-built steamboat, inventing the light bulb (apparently Edison beat him to the patent office by 5 minutes), suggesting the Panama Canal and drifting across the Arctic Sea on an iceberg. These acts were enough to net him a commanding lead in a 2005 competition to vote for the "Greatest Czech of All Time." The organizers of the poll, however, disqualified him after the first round of voting ... because he's not real. He was invented by two Czech comedians in 1967 as a part of a radio sketch, and his persona has been growing ever since.
The museum is a hoax that honors Cimrman as the "Genius Who Did Not Become Famous" and includes drawings and replicas of several of his "inventions." Among our favorites were the three-headed hammer, which would allow roofers to nail on the shingles three at a time. Jason liked the "big candle putter-outer" which was about a 2-foot tall snuffer for those really big candles. I also liked the "everybody comes along" bicycle." See our picasa page for more pictures.