Italian Renaissance in Bohemia
Among its purest examples in central Europe, from the sixteenth century.
VitVit — CC BY-SA 3.0 · FOTO:Fortepan — ID 51487: Adományozó/Donor: Nagy Gyula. archive copy at the Wayback Machine — CC BY-SA 3.0 · FOTO:Fortepan — ID 51488: Adományozó/Donor: Nagy Gyula. — CC BY-SA 3.0 · donald judge — CC BY 2.0
A wall-decoration technique from the Italian Renaissance: the wall is coated in a dark plaster layer then a light one, and the light layer is scraped away while damp to a set design, revealing the dark beneath. In Prague it was used for pyramid patterns that deceive the eye into seeing three dimensions. The Schwarzenberg Palace is the city's most famous example.
It is worth it for two or more National Gallery buildings. The Sternberg Palace is on the same Hradčany square, and the Trade Fair Palace and the Convent of St Agnes are elsewhere in the city. For a single building the individual ticket is cheaper.
Sign in to write your review of this place.
No reviews yet — be the first.
A sixteenth-century palace on Hradčany square directly facing the gate of Prague Castle, today one of the National Gallery's buildings. The facade alone is worth stopping for: every wall is covered in sgraffito — two layers of plaster, the upper scraped away to reveal the one beneath — producing a geometric pattern that tricks the eye into seeing stones projecting from a surface that is entirely flat. It is among the purest examples of Italian Renaissance architecture in central Europe, and you see it free from the square. The interior holds National Gallery collections, and what is shown changes from time to time between old art and temporary exhibitions — check the programme before buying a ticket. The position is ideal: you are directly in front of the castle entrance, so it folds into a Hradčany day with no extra walking.
Among its purest examples in central Europe, from the sixteenth century.
It covers several buildings — do the sum if you will visit more than one.
Directly opposite the castle, with the Sternberg Palace on the same square.
Hradčanské náměstí, opposite Prague Castle