Palace sights in Prague
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Wallenstein Palace
The small Wallenstein Square (Valdštejnské náměstí), northeast of Malá Strana Square, is dominated by the monumental 1630 palace of Albrecht of Wallenstein, general of the Habsburg armies, who financed the construction with the confiscated properties of Protestant nobles he defeated at the Battle of (White Mountain) in 1620. It now houses the Senate of the Czech Republic, but you can visit some rooms on weekends. The ceiling fresco in the Baroque Hall shows Wallenstein as a warrior at the reins of a chariot, while the unusual oval Audience Hall has a fresco of Vulcan at work in his forge. Behind the palace is a huge, walled garden, which is an oasis of peace amid th…
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Old Royal Palace
The Old Royal Palace, at the eastern end of Prague Castle's third courtyard, is one of the oldest parts of the castle, dating from 1135. It was originally used only by Czech princesses, but from the 13th to the 16th centuries it was the king’s own palace. At its heart is the Vladislav Hall (Vladislavský sál), famous for its beautiful, late-Gothic vaulted ceiling (1493–1502) designed by Benedikt Rejt. Though around 500 years old, the flowing, interwoven lines of the vaults have an almost Art Nouveau feel, in contrast to the rectilinear form of the Renaissance windows. The vast hall was used for banquets, councils and coronations, and for indoor jousting tournaments – hen…
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Lobkowicz Palace
Built in the 16th century, this palace has been home to the aristocratic Lobkowicz family for around 400 years. Confiscated by the Nazis in WWII, and again by the communists in 1948, it was finally returned in 2002 to William Lobkowicz, an American property developer and grandson of Maximilian, the 10th Prince Lobkowicz, who fled to the USA in 1939. It was opened to the public as a private museum in 2007. You tour the main exhibition, known as the Princely Collections, with an audio guide dictated by William and his family – this personal connection really brings the displays to life, and makes the palace one of the castle’s most interesting attractions. Highlights includ…
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Lucerna Palace
The most elegant of Nové Město’s many shopping arcades runs beneath the Art Nouveau Lucerna Palace (1920), between Štěpánská and Vodičkova streets. The complex was designed by Václav Havel (grandfather of the expresident), and is still partially owned by the family. It includes theatres, a cinema, shops, a rock club and several cafés and restaurants. In the marbled atrium hangs artist David Černý’s sculpture Horse, a wryly amusing counterpart to the equestrian statue of St Wenceslas in Wenceslas Square. Here St Wenceslas sits astride a horse that is decidedly dead; Černý never comments on the meaning of his works, but it’s safe to assume that this Wenceslas…
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Schwarzenberg Palace
Sporting a beautifully preserved façade of black-and-white Renaissance sgraffito, the newly renovated Schwarzenberg Palace houses the National Gallery’s collection of baroque art. Sadly, a lot of the paintings are poorly lit and suffer from reflections from nearby windows – a shame, as the inside of the palace itself is far less impressive than the outside, and the collection is really only of interest to art aficionados. The ground floor is given over to two masters of baroque sculpture, Matthias Braun and Maximilian Brokof, whose over-wrought figures appear to have been caught in a hurricane, such is the liveliness of their billowing robes. The highlights of the 1st fl…
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Sternberg Palace
Tucked behind the Archbishop’s Palace is the baroque Sternberg Palace, home to the National Gallery’s collection of 14th- to 18th-century European art, including works by Goya and Rembrandt. Fans of medieval altarpieces will be in heaven; there are also several Rubens, some Rembrandt and Breughel, and a large collection of Bohemian miniatures. Pride of the gallery is the glowing Feast of the Rosary by Albrecht Dürer, an artist better known for his engravings. Painted in Venice in 1505 as an altarpiece for the church of San Bartolomeo, it was brought to Prague by Rudolf II; in the background, beneath the tree on the right, is the figure of the artist himself. For a bit…
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Troja Chateau
Troja Chateau is a 17th-century baroque palace built for the Šternberk family, inspired by the Roman country villas seen by the architect on a visit to Italy. The sumptuously decorated palace now houses the Prague City Gallery’s collection of 19th-century Czech art, a gallery of paintings of dogs and horses owned by the Bohemian aristocracy, and exhibits explaining the sculptures and frescoes that adorn the palace itself. In the cellars you’ll find a small museum dedicated to the history of wine-making in the Czech lands (admission free, 20Kč per sample if you want to taste some wines). There’s free admission to the palace grounds, where you can wander in the beautiful Fr…
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Černín Palace
The late-17th-century early-baroque palace facing the Loreta boasts Prague’s largest monumental façade. This imposing building has housed the foreign ministry since the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, except during WWII when it served as the headquarters of the Nazi Reichsprotektor, and is where the documents that dissolved the Warsaw Pact were signed in 1991. In 1948, Jan Masaryk – son of the Czechoslovak Republic’s founding father, Tomáš Masaryk, and the only noncommunist in the new Soviet-backed government – fell to his death from one of the upper windows. Did he fall, or was he pushed?
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Star Summer Palace
The Letohrádek hvězda is a Renaissance summer palace in the shape of a six-pointed star, built in 1556 for Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol. It sits at the end of a long avenue through the lovely wooded park of Obora hvězda, a hunting reserve established by Ferdinand I in 1530. The palace houses a small museum about its history and an exhibit on the battle of White Mountain. From the Vypich tram stop, bear right across open parkland to the white archway in the wall; the avenue on the far side leads to the palace (a 1.5km walk from the tram).
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Bretfeld Palace
Following the tourist crowds downhill from Prague Castle via Ke Hradu will bring you to Nerudova, architecturally the most important street in Malá Strana; most of its old Renaissance façades were ‘baroquefied’ in the 18th century. (It’s named after the Czech poet Jan Neruda, who was famous for his short stories, Tales of Malá Strana.) From 1765 Josef of Bretfeld made his Bretfeld Palace a social hotspot, entertaining Mozart and Casanova.
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Zbraslav Chateau
Zbraslav is a small town on the western bank of the Vltava, 10km south of the centre, that was only recently incorporated into Greater Prague. As long ago as 1268 Přemysl Otakar II built a hunting lodge and a chapel here, later rebuilt as a Cistercian monastery. In 1784 it was converted into a baroque chateau that now houses the National Gallery’s permanent collection of Asian art, with copies of well-known Czech sculptures in the gardens.
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Peček Palace
This gloomy neo-Renaissance palace served as the wartime headquarters of the Gestapo. A memorial on the corner of the building honours the many Czechs who were tortured and executed in the basement detention cells. Today, it is home to the Ministry of Trade & Industry.
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Archbishop's Palace
Opposite the Schwarzenberg Palace is the rococo Archbishop's Palace, bought by Archbishop Antonín Brus of Mohelnice in 1562, and the seat of archbishops ever since. The exterior was given a rococo makeover between 1763 and 1765.
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Smiřický Palace
On 22 May 1618 Czech nobles gathered at the Smiřický Palace to plot a rebellion against the Habsburg rulers – the next day they flung two Habsburg councillors out of a window in Prague Castle.
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