Waldstein Palace

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Waldstein Palace with Prague Castle in the background

The Waldstein Palace or Wallenstein Palace ( Valdštejnský palác in Czech ) is the largest palace in Prague . It is located in Prague's Lesser Town and is the seat of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic .

history

Main facade
View from the riding arena

The palace was built between 1623 and 1630 by order of Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Waldstein , better known as Wallenstein , the Duke of Friedland , which is why it was called Friedlander's House at the time. It is built in the style of the early Bohemian Baroque , but still has mannerist features. The construction was carried out by the architect Giovanni Pieroni , a student of Galileo Galilei , with the assistance of the stonemason Zacharias Bussi from Campione d'Italia . The designs come from Andrea Spezza .

The palace has a wide expanse, in particular due to its side wings and the enclosed gardens, for which Wallenstein bought 25 houses with gardens and had them demolished. However, it was not designed as an architectural challenge to the Prague Castle , at whose feet it lies, like the later Palais Czernin opposite it .

Ballroom in the Palais

The loggia of the palace was modeled on Ligurian architecture and has similarities with the loggia of the Cathedral of Livorno by Alessandro Pieroni . The interiors of the loggia are adorned with rich stucco decorations by Bartolomeo Baccio di Bianco . The wall paintings show, among other things, motifs from the Aeneid and Olympic gods , in which Neptune and Mars are highlighted, and are framed by cartouches made of stucco , which are decorated with festoons and scrollwork as well as war trophies. As in the ballroom of the Palais, they glorify Wallenstein as a general by remembering his military successes. They also illustrate his efforts to create a great naval power in the north. The paintings were painted over in 1853 and restored again in 1954.

After Wallenstein's murder in 1634, the palace was confiscated, but later acquired by his nephew Maximilian. The palace remained in the possession of the Waldstein family until 1945 and was then expropriated again. The Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic has had its seat here since 1992 .

Garden area

Panoramic view of the garden
Loggia with de Vries bronze figures
Hercules by Adriaen de Vries (cast)

The palace also has extensive gardens. The garden in front of the loggia, the Giardinetto, was furnished with a Neptune fountain with bronze figures by the Dutch sculptor Adriaen de Vries in 1626/27 , some of the figures being completed by his workshop assistants after the artist's death in 1626. However, the fountain was replaced by a fountain originally created for the Lobkowitz Palace with a statue of Venus by the Nuremberg bronze caster Benedikt Wurzelbauer from 1599. Adriaen de Vries' figures were placed in the garden, making them the only example of antique outdoor statues in the Czech Republic at that time.

The Venus figure, as well as all of de Vries' figures, were brought to Stockholm as spoils of war in 1648 towards the end of the Thirty Years War when Swedish troops sacked Prague and are now in the garden of the royal Drottningholm Palace . Venus was recovered in 1889, but has been in the Prague Castle Gallery ever since.

Casts of the original sculptures are placed in the garden of the Waldstein Palace. In the garden there is also the Wallenstein riding arena (Valdštejnská jízdárna) , which is used by the Prague National Gallery for exhibitions. In 2016/17 the Bavarian-Czech state exhibition took place in the riding hall .

Web links

Commons : Palais Waldstein  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Golo Mann : Wallenstein. His life , Frankfurt am Main 1997 (first 1971), chapter client
  2. ↑ Riding arena
  3. ^ National exhibition

Coordinates: 50 ° 5 ′ 24 ″  N , 14 ° 24 ′ 24 ″  E