Rembrandt, Rubens and Goya
The Czech Republic's most important old European collection, in an uncrowded building.
svajcr — Public domain · svajcr — Public domain · Richard Mortel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — CC BY 2.0 · Ikcur — CC0
A Holy Roman Emperor who moved his court to Prague in 1583, assembled there one of Europe's greatest collections of art and curiosities, and drew astronomers such as Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler. His reign made Prague a cultural and scientific capital, and much of what the city's museums hold today goes back to that collecting passion.
The palace is two minutes from the castle gate, and the Schwarzenberg Palace is on the same square. The best order is the castle in the morning when it is least crowded, then the two palaces in the afternoon, when they are quieter than everything around them.
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A baroque palace of the early eighteenth century behind Hradčany square, holding the National Gallery's collection of old European art. Here hang works of the European Renaissance and baroque, foremost among them Albrecht Dürer's Feast of the Rosary, painted in Venice in 1506. The painting was bought by Emperor Rudolf II and moved from Venice to Prague — it is said it was carried on men's shoulders across the Alps to spare it from jolting. Alongside it are works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Goya, Cranach and Italian and Dutch painters. This is the most important collection of old European art in the Czech Republic. A practical point: the entrance is not on the square itself but down a side passage behind the Archbishop's Palace, and many people walk past without noticing. The palace is far quieter than the castle next door despite being a minute from it.
The Czech Republic's most important old European collection, in an uncrowded building.
The Dürer is said to have been carried on shoulders from Venice to spare it jolting.
Not on the square but in a passage behind the Archbishop's Palace.
Behind Hradčanské náměstí, near the Archbishop's Palace