Tram: 22, 23
Metro: Hradoanska
Prague Castle Square stands at the approach to Prague Castle and formed part of the processional route at the coronations of the kings of Bohemia. At the centre of the original town of Hradaany, this square underwent massive reconstruction after the fire of 1541. Originally it was lined with burghers’ houses but after the fire it became the site of palaces for the nobility and church dignitaries. In the centre stands a baroque Plague column with a statue of the Virgin Mary with the eight Patron saints of the Czech Republic and, nearby, a decorative cast-iron candelabrum from the 19th century, a relic of the days of gas lighting. It was here too that, in August 1547, the leaders of the anti-Habsburg rebellion were executed.
The recently restored Archbishop’s Palace (no 16) was originally a Renaissance palace built for Florian Gryspek of Gryspach before 1538. Later Ferdinand I bought it and presented it to the first post-Hussite Catholic Archbishop of Prague, Antonin Brus of Mohelnice. The palace was rebuilt between 1562-4. Over a century later, between 1675 and 1688, it was remodelled in baroque style by the French architect Jean-Baptiste Mathey.
Mathey’s magnificent marble doorway is virtually all that remains, as in 1764 work began on construction of the present stunning, rococo facade. Johann Joseph Wirch was the architect of this final reconstruction and was also responsible for much of the lavish interior decoration. The facade itself is richly decorated with stucco works and adorned with the magnificent and sizeable family crest of Archbishop Anton Peter Graf, Prince of Prichowitz. Below this are sculptures by I F Platzer and the later works of T Seidan can be seen.
Inside are further fine stucco decorations, wood carvings and a collection of glass and porcelain although the public are only admitted once a year on Maundy Thursday.
Next to the Archbishop’s Palace which houses the main collection of European Art, and is also the venue of occasional temporary exhibitions. This 18th-century palace was designed by Alliprandi, who based his designs on works by the Viennese architect Martinelli. It has fine ceiling paintings and frescos.
On the south side of the square at no 2 and opposite the Sternberg Palace is the Schwarzenberg Palace and Museum of Military History; it ranks with the castle and the Archbishop’s Palace as one of the finest buildings in the area. The site was acquired by Jan of Lobkowicz after the fire in 1541, and soon after, he commissioned a large palace to be built on the area. Mainly remarkable for its distinctive, but much restored, sgraffito decoration and projecting cornices in the style of North Italian models, it is a good example of Renaissance palace architecture in Prague. Late 16th-century frescos adorn the ceiling in the main hall on the second floor and in some other rooms. These include illustrations of allegorical figures and scenes from Homer’s poems: ‘The Trial of Paris’; ‘The Abduction of Helen’; ‘The Conquering of Troy’ and the ‘Flight of Aeneas from burning Troy’, It wasn’t until 1719, after the palace had changed ownership three more times that it was acquired by the Schwarzenberg family. The neighbouring Empire-style Salm Palace was bought by Joseph Schwarzenberg in 1811, who then connected it with the main Schwarzenberg Palace. A large letter ‘S’ adorned with a crown is found on the grille of the gate to the former Salm Palace, after Archbishop Vilern Florentin of Salm, who built the palace in the early 19th century. These days this part of the building is the home of the Swiss Embassy.
At the top of the square, on the corner of Loretanska, is the yellow fronted Tuscany Palace, so called because in the early 18th century it belonged to the Duke of Tuscany. His sculptured coat of arms can be seen above the two columned portals. This two-storey edifice was probably built by the French architect Jean Mathey between 1689 and 1691 for Michel Osvald Thun Hohenstein. It was not until 1718 that the palace was acquired by the dukes of Tuscany. Today it is the property of the Czech Foreign Minister. The harmonious proportions of its early baroque facade (restored after 1945), decorated with statuary and stucco work, are very attractive.
Standing at the north-west corner of the square is the handsome Renaissance Martinic Palace. It was originally designed at the end of the 16th century and in 1624 Jaroslav Bofita von Martinice acquired the palace. (He was one of the two Imperial councillors who suffered defenestration in 1618.) Martinice commissioned an extra storey to be added together with the Renaissance gables and the coat of arms set above the main entrance. In 1971, during restoration work, a band of fine 16th- and early 17th-century sgraffito decoration was newly uncovered on the facade which faces the square. It depicts Biblical scenes including Joseph’s Flight from Putiphar. On the facade facing the inner courtyards there are scenes from the life of Samson and of Hercules. The interior of the palace offers a chance to see an exceptionally complicated coffered ceiling (in the main hall) and copper beam ceilings with vegetable and figural motifs. Today this palace is the headquarters and residence of the capital’s Chief Architect and it is also the venue for exhibitions, concerts and literary recitals.
No 10 Hradoany Square was the home of Peter Parler, the famous builder who was responsible for St Vitus’s Cathedral. In the early 18th century the house was connected with its neighbour, No 9, by a richly decorated baroque facade.
There are several canonical houses in the square which can be identified by the coat of arms of the St Vitus Chapter: a gold band in a black field. At No 3 is the Monastery of the Barnabites. An early baroque edifice built on the site of the original presbytery of the Church of St Benedictine, it was given to the Barnabite Order in 1626. In 1784 the monastery was abolished but soon after awarded to the Mendicant Carmelites. In 1958 the building was converted into a hotel for guests of the state.
The Church of St Benedict, the parish church of the medieval town of Hradaany, was originally Gothic. Rebuilt in the late 15th century and again after 1541, the present baroque building was constructed in the 17th century and modified in the early 18th century. The furnishings inside also date from the 18th century.