Karlova Koruna, Chlumec nad Cidlinou
The village of Chlumec, fifty miles east of Prague, came into the possession of the noble family of Kinský at the start of the seventeenth century. In 1721, Count František Ferdinand Kinský invited the baroque...
Tagged: castles
Prague Castle: Ludvík Wing and ‘Bull’ Staircase
Halfway along the impressive southern rampart of Prague Castle stands the Ludvík wing, a five-storey bastion built between 1503 and 1509 and named after Ludvík Jagellonský, ruler of Bohemia from 1516 to 1526. Its architect,...
Castle of Orlík nad Vltavou
Orlík takes its name from ‘orel’, the Czech word for an eagle; and indeed for many centuries this rocky outcrop rising 200 feet above the river Vltava must have made a dramatic eyrie for the...
Prague Castle: State Rooms
The rococo interiors of the southern range of the presidential palace are richly decorated in gilded stucco in the manner of the adjacent (and much earlier) Spanish Hall. The entire wing was part of the...
Prague Castle: Vladislav Hall
Commissioned by the Jagellon king Vladislav II, this palatial hall was constructed within the walls of Prague Castle between 1485 and 1502. Designed by the master-builder Benedikt Rejt, the hall was used principally for ceremony...
Prague Castle: Matthias Gate
‘D[ominus] Matthias El[ectus] Rom[anus] Imp[erator] S[emper] Aug[ustus] Hung[ariae] Boh[emiae] Rex etc. F[ieri] F[ecit] An[n]o MDCXIV’ ‘Master Matthias, elected Roman Emperor, forever August, King of Hungary, Bohemia etc., ordered this to be built in the year...
