Hradčanské náměstí 56/16: Archbishop’s Palace

Commissioned by Jan Bedřich von Waldstein, and built between 1675 and 1679 by Francesco Lurago on the site of the existing Bishops’ Palace, the imposing baroque structure with its prominent central bay and impressive pavilion roof occupies a commanding position overlooking the city, adjacent to Prague Castle.

The Italian Giovanni Battista Aliprandi is usually thought of as the architect of the Archbishop’s Palace, but Dijon-born architect Jean Baptiste Mathey (responsible for the design of Troja Chateau to the north of the city) seems to have played a larger hand in the design.

The florid rococo detailing, added for Archbishop Petr Příchovský in 1764 and including his personal coat-of-arms (the Příchovice geese surmounted by the archbishop’s ten-tasselled galero), is the work of Jan Josef Wirch and Ignác František Platzer.