At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, increasingly renowned exhibitions of modern art were held under the ‘Topič Salon’ moniker at the present-day Art Nouveau building of Pojišťovna Praha. The publisher and leading light of book culture, František Topič, had an exhibition hall built for these purposes in the courtyard of the building. In 1897 it housed a travelling exhibition by Alphonse Mucha, en route from Paris to many world capitals. It was Mucha’s first solo exhibition in Prague and the first exhibition of Art Nouveau in Prague. Showing at that time, among other things, were the posters he created for Sarah Bernhardt, the very works that made Mucha famous (Gismonda, Lorenzaccio and others). In addition to his posters, Mucha’s book illustrations were also shown. In 1905, the Topič publishing house and art salons moved to the premises of the adjacent Art Nouveau building with the Topič sign, by arch. Osvald Polívka.