Lobkowicz Palace (Czech: Lobkowický palác) stands as one of the most historically layered and culturally significant buildings within Prague Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the only privately owned palace in the entire complex and serves today as the home of the Lobkowicz Palace Museum, showcasing one of Europe’s oldest and finest private art collections. Its story spans more than 470 years, reflecting the rise and resilience of the influential Lobkowicz noble family, Bohemia’s turbulent politics, artistic patronage at the highest levels, and 20th-century upheavals under Nazi and Communist regimes.
Pre-Lobkowicz Origins and Renaissance Construction (Early to Mid-16th
Century)
The site originally contained two large Gothic houses.
Palace construction began in the first half of the 16th century under
Wolf Krajíř of Krajk. In 1554 the powerful Pernštejn family took over
the project. Czech nobleman Jaroslav of Pernštejn (1528–1569) and his
brother Vratislav of Pernštejn (1530–1582), chancellor of the Czech
Kingdom, completed the palace in phases between 1554–1562 and 1570–1577.
The northern wing, including a chapel, dates to 1576–1577.
Originally
known as Pernštejn Palace, it was a classic Renaissance residence with
four wings surrounding a courtyard, richly adorned with sgraffito and
architectural elements made from burnt clay—a signature Pernštejn style.
The structure featured original 16th-century murals and courtyard
details that survive in part today.
During this period, Vratislav’s
Spanish wife, Maria Maximiliana Manrique de Lara y Mendoza, brought the
renowned Infant Jesus of Prague statue from Spain to the palace, where
it became famous for reported miraculous healings. Their daughter
Polyxena later gifted the original to the nearby Church of Our Lady
Victorious (where it remains a major pilgrimage site); a faithful copy
is permanently displayed in the palace museum.
Acquisition by the
Lobkowicz Family and the Dramatic 17th Century
The palace entered the
Lobkowicz family in 1627 through the marriage of Polyxena Pernštejn
(1566–1642) to Zdeněk Vojtěch Popel of Lobkowicz (1568–1628), who became
the 1st Prince Lobkowicz. The Lobkowicz (or Lobkowicz) family traces its
documented roots to 1390 and ranks among Bohemia’s oldest and most
powerful noble houses, known for Catholic loyalty, political influence,
and lavish arts patronage.
The palace immediately became central to
one of Bohemia’s most explosive moments. On 23 May 1618, during the
Second Defenestration of Prague (the spark of the Thirty Years’ War),
Protestant rebels hurled two Catholic Imperial ministers and a secretary
from a window of the nearby Royal Palace. The survivors fled to
Lobkowicz Palace, where Polyxena sheltered and protected them from the
mob. After the Catholic Habsburg victory at the Battle of White Mountain
in 1620, the Lobkowicz family’s status and properties were secured and
expanded.
A fire damaged the building in 1625. Under Václav Eusebius
of Lobkowicz (2nd Prince), it underwent major reconstruction from 1651
to 1668 by Italian architect Carlo Luragho. The palace was transformed
into a two-storey early-Baroque structure with a simple, smooth facade
and two courtyards that still preserve fragments of the original
Renaissance sgraffito and burnt-clay details. Two early-Baroque portals
face Jiřská Street.
Interiors became spectacular. The large
south-eastern hall features trompe-l’œil architectural paintings. Two
17th-century halls boast terracotta stucco ceilings by Domenico Galli
and painted canvases by Fabián Václav Harovník (1665–1669) depicting
Caesar’s Triumph, the Feast of the Gods, Apollo on Parnassus, the Muses,
allegories of seasons and continents, and mythological scenes. The
original St. Václav Chapel survives, with round medallions illustrating
the saint’s legend and a 1723 altar painting of St. Václav by Petr
Brandl.
18th–19th Centuries: Royal Festivities, Patronage, and
Shifting Uses
Later Lobkowicz princes, especially the 7th Prince
Joseph Franz Maximilian, used the palace for grand events while
preferring other family estates (such as Roudnice). In the 1790s
panoramic balconies were added to accommodate Emperor Leopold II’s
coronation festivities in 1791. Around 1811 the palace served as a
military hospital for soldiers wounded in the Napoleonic Wars. After the
abolition of hereditary titles in 1918, Maximilian Lobkowicz (1888–1967)
demonstrated loyalty to the new Czechoslovak Republic by offering rooms
to President Tomáš G. Masaryk’s government.
20th-Century
Confiscations and Exile
The palace’s darkest chapter began in 1939
when Nazi forces confiscated it (along with all Lobkowicz properties)
after occupying Czechoslovakia. Max Lobkowicz, an outspoken critic of
Hitler, fled with his family to London and was declared an enemy of the
Reich. The palace was briefly returned in 1945, only to be seized again
after the 1948 Communist coup. For the next four decades it housed state
offices and later served as a museum of Czech history. The family lived
in exile.
Restitution, Restoration, and the Museum Era
(1989–Present)
The 1989 Velvet Revolution and subsequent restitution
laws under President Václav Havel enabled the family’s return.
American-born William E. Lobkowicz (great-grandson of Max) came back in
the early 1990s and, after a 12–25-year legal and restoration process,
the palace was officially restituted in 2002. Extensive planning,
conservation, and refurbishment followed. On 2 April 2007 the palace
opened to the public for the first time as the Lobkowicz Palace Museum—a
landmark moment for Czech cultural heritage.
Today the palace
displays highlights of the Lobkowicz Collections (catalogued as early as
1907): over 1,500 paintings (including Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s The
Hay Harvest, Canaletto’s London views, works by Rubens, Cranach, and
Velázquez), rare musical manuscripts and instruments (Beethoven
dedicated his Eroica and Fifth Symphonies to a Lobkowicz prince; Mozart
and Haydn works with family annotations), arms and armour, ceramics
(including the world’s largest surviving 17th-century Delft dinner
service), and more. Free audio guides narrated by the Lobkowicz family
itself weave 700 years of Bohemian and European history through their
personal lens. The Baroque Concert Hall hosts regular classical music
concerts and events.
Construction began in the first half of the 16th century on the site
of two earlier Gothic houses. Wolf Krajíř of Krajk initiated the work,
which the Pernštejn brothers—Jaroslav (1528–1569) and Vratislav
(1530–1582), chancellor of the Czech Kingdom—continued in phases
(1554–1562 and 1570–1577). The original structure was a Renaissance
palace with four wings enclosing a courtyard. It featured rich
decoration using burnt-clay (terracotta) architectural elements, a
signature Pernštejn technique, along with the northern wing and a chapel
added in 1576–1577. At this stage it was known as Pernštejn Palace.
In 1627 the property passed to Polyxena of Lobkowicz through marriage. A
fire in 1625 prompted an early-Baroque rebuild in a more austere style.
The decisive transformation occurred between 1651 and 1668 under Václav
Eusebius, 2nd Prince Lobkowicz, who commissioned Italian architect Carlo
Lurago (also spelled Luragho). Lurago redesigned the palace in an
Italianate Baroque manner, reducing it to a two-storey structure
arranged around two interior courtyards. This phase introduced lavish
interior decoration while retaining select Renaissance remnants. Further
exterior work in the 18th century—under Joseph František Maximilian, 7th
Prince Lobkowicz—added panoramic balconies in preparation for Emperor
Leopold II’s 1791 coronation as King of Bohemia. Minor internal
alterations occurred in the 19th century (e.g., inserted ceilings in one
hall, later reversed), and major restorations took place in the
1970s–1980s and again 2002–2007 after the palace’s restitution to the
family.
Exterior Architecture
The street-facing (Jiřská)
elevation presents a restrained, smooth plaster frontispiece typical of
early Baroque restraint, punctuated by two prominent early-Baroque
portals with pediments and decorative surrounds. The multi-windowed,
symmetrical façade rises two storeys beneath a red-tiled roof and blends
harmoniously with adjacent castle structures, including a nearby tower.
Subtle Renaissance traces survive in some detailing, but the dominant
impression is of elegant simplicity rather than ornate excess. The
18th-century panoramic balconies and terraces extend the building
outward, capitalizing on its elevated position for sweeping vistas.
Layout and Courtyards
The palace wraps around two interior
courtyards, a modification from the original four-wing Renaissance plan.
These courtyards preserve some of the most authentic surviving elements:
remnants of 16th-century sgraffiti (scratched plaster revealing
contrasting layers) and burnt-clay Renaissance mouldings and
architectural motifs. The northern wing retains its original chapel; the
south-eastern wing houses a two-storey-high grand hall that opens toward
the city. The overall footprint creates an intimate yet processional
sequence of spaces, with early-Baroque portals and passageways linking
the courtyards to the street and castle precincts.
Interior
Architecture and Key Spaces
The interiors reflect the 17th-century
Baroque/Italianate redesign, emphasizing theatrical illusion, stucco,
and fresco. Ceilings and walls feature elaborate painted stucco (often
in terracotta technique by Domenico Galli) combined with canvas
insertions. Fireplaces, ornate doorways, and period furnishings enhance
the noble residential character.
Baroque Concert Hall (the large
south-eastern hall): This is the palace’s architectural centerpiece. Its
soaring ceiling displays magnificent frescoes and stuccowork executed
1665–1669 by Václav Fabián Sebastián Harovník (also called Fabián Václav
Harovník). The program includes grand allegorical and mythological
scenes: Caesar’s Triumph, the Feast of the Gods, Apollo under Parnassus
with the Muses, allegories of the seasons and continents, and smaller
vignettes such as Ganymede, Apollo and Daphne, the Rape of Europa, and
Venus. Illusory wall paintings depict 17th-century architecture and
sculpture, creating trompe-l’oeil depth. The hall’s proportions, natural
light from tall windows, and acoustic qualities make it ideal for
concerts today.
Imperial Hall: The walls carry frescoed trompe-l’oeil
statues of emperors surrounded by geometric patterns, floral motifs, and
decorative cartouches—another clear expression of the Italianate Baroque
taste introduced by Lurago and Václav Eusebius.
St. Wenceslas (St.
Václav) Chapel (northern wing): Preserved largely in its original form,
it features round medallions illustrating the Legend of St. Wenceslas
and a 1723 altar painting of the saint by Petr Brandl.
Other
notable interiors include richly decorated salons with period
fireplaces, additional frescoed ceilings, and rooms now used for the
museum’s 21-gallery audio-guided tour. The overall palette—light walls,
gilded or painted stucco, wooden parquet floors, and tall
windows—creates an atmosphere of refined elegance rather than
overwhelming opulence.
Panoramic Terrace and Views
One of the
palace’s most distinctive modern-feeling features is its elevated
terrace and balcony café, offering breathtaking 180°+ views across
Prague’s red rooftops, the Vltava River, and distant landmarks. These
outdoor spaces, enhanced in the 18th century, turn the building’s
topography into an architectural asset.