St. George Monastery

Tel.: +420 257 531 644
Fax.: +420 257 532 234

Info Telefon: +420 257 535
Besucher-Email: ssu-jk@ngprague.cz
http://www.ngprague.cz...

National Gallery

Czech Art of the Mannierism and Barock Age
 

Sternberg Palace

Fax.: +420 220 513 180

Info Telefon: +420 220 514 634-7
Besucher-Email: sp.educ@ngprague.cz
http://www.ngprague.cz...

National Gallery

Tram 22, 23 - Prazský hrad

European Old Masters (German, Flemish, Italian Spanish Schools)
 

Hradschin – The Prague Castle

Fax.: +420 224 373 238

Info Telefon: +420 224 373 368
Besucher-Email: tourist.info@hrad.cz
http://www.hrad.cz/en/prazsky_hrad/navst...

April – Oct. daily 9.00 – 17.00, Nov. – March daily 9.00 – 16.00 h.

On the basis of archaeological research and the oldest written sources it is thought that Prague Castle was founded around the year 880 by Prince Borivoj of the house of Premyslides.
The early medieval castle site was fortified with a moat and a rampart of clay and stones. The first walled building was the Church of Virgin Mary. Other churches, dedicated to St. George and St. Vitus, were founded in the first half of the 10th century.
From the 10th century Prague Castle was not only the seat of the head of state, the princes and later kings, but also of the highest representative of church, the Prague bishop. The first convent in Bohemia was also founded in the grounds of Prague Castle, a convent next to the church of St. George for the order of Benedictine nuns.
The basilica of St. Vitus, built on the site of the original rotunda, was the main castle church since the 11th century, where the relics of the patron saints of the land were kept: SS. Vitus, Wenceslas and Adalbert. And from the 10th century the convent of the Prague church was an important educational and cultural institution.
The period of the rule of King and later Emperor Charles IV (the middle of the 14th century) was a time of prosperity for Prague Castle, for then it first became an imperial residence, the seat of the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire.
The royal palace was magnificently rebuilt and the fortifications strengthened. Building began on the Gothic church of St. Vitus on the model of French cathedrals.
Building continued on the Castle during the reign of Charles's son, Wenceslas IV. The Hussite wars and the following decades, when the Castle was not inhabited, caused the dilapidation of its buildings and fortifications.
The next favourable time came after 1483, when a king of the new dynasty of Jagellons again made the Castle his seat. New fortifications were built and, together with them, defence towers on the northern side (the Powder Tower, the New White Tower and Daliborka). The architect of the fortifications, Benedikt Ried, also rebuilt and enlarged the royal palace: the splendid Vladislav Hall was the biggest secular vaulted hall in the Europe of that day. Its big windows are considered to be one of the first examples of the Renaissance style in Bohemia.

The kings of a further dynasty, the Habsburgs, started rebuilding the Castle into a renaissance seat. In accordance with the taste of the time the Royal Garden was founded first, and in the course of the 16th century buildings serving for entertainment were put up in it: a summer palace, a ball games hall, a shooting range and a lion's court. Afterwards the cathedral and the royal palace were adapted. New dwelling houses began to be built to the west of the Old Royal Palace, along the southern ramparts.

The adaptation of the Castle came to its height in the second half of the 16th century, during the rule of Rudolph II. The emperor settled permanently in Prague Castle and began to turn it into a grand and dignified centre of the empire. And he founded the northern wing of the palace, with today's Spanish Hall, to house his precious artistic and scientific collections.

The Prague defenestration in 1618 started a long period of wars, during which Prague Castle was damaged and robbed. It was used by the country's ruler only exceptionally and temporarily.

In the second half of the 18th century the last great rebuilding of the Castle was carried out, making it a prestigious castle-type seat. But at that time the capital or the empire was Vienna, and Prague was just a provincial town. The Castle gradually became dilapidated and its art treasures were impoverished by the sale of the remains of the Emperor Rudolph's collections.
Emperor Ferdinand V, after abdicating in 1848, chose Prague Castle as his home. On this occasion the Chapel of the Holy Cross on the Second Courtyard was rebuilt. The Spanish Hall and the Rudolph Gallery were done up in preparation for the coronation of Francis Joseph I which, however, did not take place.

There was a big movement to complete the building of the cathedral, but this was not inspired by the ruler but by the patriotic Union for Completing the Cathedral of St. Vitus. It was in fact completed in 1929.

After the foundation of the independent Czechoslovak Republic in 1918 Prague Castle again became the seat of the head of state. The Slovene architect Josip Plecnik was entrusted with the necessary alterations in 1920.

Today too reconstruction and alterations to the grounds of Prague Castle are going on, and this is not only a matter of essential building maintenance. The basic aim is to open the grounds of the Castle to all comers. Since 1989 many previously closed areas have been thrown open to the public, for instance the Royal Garden with its Ball Game Hall, the southern gardens, the Imperial Stables, the Theresian Wing of the Old Royal Palace.

Today Prague Castle, besides the seat of the head of state, is also an important cultural and historical monument. The crown jewels are kept in Prague Castle, as are the relics of Bohemian kings, precious Christian relics, art treasures and historical documents. Events important for the whole country have taken place within its walls. Hence Prague Castle is the embodiment of the historical tradition of the Czech state, linking the present with the past.

Picture: Spanish Hall.

 

King’s Garden with Ballhouse and Chateau Belvedere

Fax.: +420 224 373 238

Info Telefon: +420 224 373 368
Besucher-Email: tourist.info@hrad.cz
http://www.hrad.cz...

Museum Antonin Dvorák - Villa Amerika

Tel.: +420 224 918 013
Fax.: +420 224 923 363

Info Telefon: +420 224 923 363
Besucher-Email: a_dvorak_museum@nm.cz

National Museum

(IV. - IX.)
TUE-SUN: 10:00- 13:00 and 14:00-17:30
CLOSED: every Monday
(X.-III.)
TUE-SUN: 9:30-13:30 and 14:00-17:00
CLOSED: every Monday

Life and Work of the Composer Antonín Dvorák
 

Museum of the Czech Police

Fax.: +420 974 841 091

Info Telefon: +420 224 922 183
Besucher-Email: muzeum@mvcr.cz
http://www.mvcr.cz/policie/muzeum.htm...

Podskalí Custom House at Výton

Tel.: +420 224 921 933

Info Telefon: +420 224 919 833

Health Museum of the National Medical Library

Fax.: +420 224 266 225

Info Telefon: +420 224 266 225
Besucher-Email: curinova@nlk.anet.cz

Vysehrad national cultural monument

Tel.: +420 241 410 352
Fax.: +420 241 410 347

Info Telefon: +420 241 410 348
Besucher-Email: info@praha-vysehrad.cz
http://www.praha-vysehrad.cz...

daily from 9,30am to 5pm (November-March) and from 9,30am to 6pm (April-October).

VYSEHRAD, the rock above the river with its dark outline of slender spires, is an inseparable part of the Prague skyline. The traditions of this mysterious site are bound up with the legends whose literary treatment was worked up Alois Jirásek from the ancient chronicles into his work "The Old Czech Legends". These tell of the Princess Libuše, who foresaw the future glory of Prague from her seat at Vyšehrad, and who sent a delegation to seek out Pøemysl the Ploughman, founder of the ruling dynasty, as well as of brave Bivoj, the wondrous horse Šemík and its leap from Vyšehrad rock, and of the War of the Maidens. The legends of Vyšehrad, explaining and celebrating the origins and early years of the Pøemyslid state, have made this one of the Czech nation's most distinguished sites. A fortified settlement appeared at Vyšehrad sometime during the 10th century. The first definitive evidence for the existence of the Vysehrad hillfort are Pøemyslid denarii of Boleslav II, minted there in the mid-10th century.

The reign of Vratislav II (1061-1092) opened a new chapter in the history of Vyšehrad. This prince, named King of Bohemia and Poland in 1085, chose Vysehrad as his royal residence, strengthening its fortifications and building a permanent palace more suited to the aspirations of the Bohemian rulers. He founded a new minster, the Basilica of St Lawrence, and what is probably Prague's earliest Romanesque rotunda, that of St Martin and The Vysehrad Chapter. The Chapter was excluded from the authority of the Bishop of Prague, and was subject directly to the Pope. It benefited from the great attention paid to it by many Bohemian sovereigns, and obtained a range of political and economic privileges. Vratislav´s successor, Sobeslav I (1125-1140), also took an interest in the artistic decoration of the churches, and in the social prestige of Vysehrad. The coronation of Vladislav in 1140 brought the precedence of this seat over Prague Castle to an end.Vysehrad regained its importance under Charles IV.

According to the coronation rite, the procession of the new sovereign began here as an expression of respect for the forefather of the dynasty to which Charles IV belonged on his mother's side. Charles IV converted Vyšehrad into a stone fortress, joining it to the ramparts of the New Town of Prague, built a Gothic Royal Palace, the Capitular church, and the great new Špièka (Peak) Gate. During the Hussite Wars, however, the whole royal precinct was destroyed. From the mid-17th century onwards Vysehrad became a Baroque fortress with its own military garrison, and thenceforth remained under military jurisdiction until 1911 when it was made over to the city; it has been preserved almost unchanged to the present day, with the exception of the burning down of the armoury on the site of what is now a park containing sculptures by Myslbek.
The present appearance of Vysehrad was largely determined in the second half of the 19th century. It was led by a number of nationalist-oriented provosts; of these, the most important in terms of the development of Vysehrad were Václav Stulc and Mikulás Karlach, who decisively determined the present appearance of Vysehrad and its major landmark, the neo-Gothic : Church of SS Peter & Paul was rebuilt in the Neo-Gothic style to a design by J. Mocker and F. Mikes that respected the disposition of Charles IV's Gothic design. It was then that the idea arose of founding a national cemetery at Vysehrad on the site of the parish graveyard. It took many years to build the Pantheon, and the present Vysehrad Cemetery is a unique artistic whole, harmoniously fitting its surroundings. At the same time it is also a unique gallery of funerary sculpture, and an expression of Czech artistic development from the second half of the l9th century to the present day. It is the final resting place of over 600 personalities from the fields of culture and intellectual endeavour.

At the close of the 20th century, Vysehrad retains its atmosphere of magic and mystery. It offers visitors one of the most beautiful urban panoramas of bygone Europe, quiet parks for relaxation, and true cultural and spiritual inspiration. (M. H.)
 

Mineralogical museum