Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
RUDOLF II - ALCHEMY, ASTROLOGY AND ART
In 1583
Emperor Rudolf II
(r. 1576-1611) switched the imperial court from Vienna to
Prague. This was to be the first and last occasion in which Prague would hold centre stage
in the Habsburg Empire, and as such is seen as something of a second golden age for the
city (the first being under Emperor Charles IV). Bad-tempered, paranoid and probably in-
sane, Rudolf had little interest in the affairs of state - instead, he holed up in the Hrad
and indulged his personal passions of alchemy, astrology and art. Thus, Rudolfine Prague
played host to an impressive array of international artists, including the idiosyncratic
Gi-
useppe Arcimboldo
, whose surreal portrait heads were composed entirely of objects. The
astronomers
Johannes Kepler
and
Tycho Brahe
were summoned to Rudolf's court to
charttheplanetarymovementsandassuageRudolf'ssuperstitions,andtheEnglishalchem-
ists
Edward Kelley
and
John Dee
were employed in order to discover the secret of the
philosopher's stone, the mythical substance that would transmute base metal into gold.
Accompanied by his
pet African lion
, Otakar, Rudolf spent less and less time in public,
hiding out in the Hrad, where he “loved to paint, weave and dabble in inlaying and watch-
making”, according to novelist Angelo Maria Ripellino. With the Turks rapidly approach-
ing the gates of Vienna, Rudolf spent his days amassing exotic curios for his strange and
vast
Kunst-undWunderkammer
,whichcontainedsuchitemsas“twonailsfromNoah's
Ark…a lump of clay out of which God formed Adam…and large mandrake roots in the
shape of little men reclining on soft velvet cushions in small cases resembling doll beds”.
Though he sired numerous bastards he refused to marry, since he had been warned in a
horoscope that a legitimate heir would rob him of the throne. He was also especially wary
of the numerous religious orders that inhabited Prague at the time, having been warned in
another horoscope that he would be killed by a monk. In the end, he was relieved of his
thronebyhisyoungerbrother,
Matthias
,in1611,anddiedthefollowingyear,thedayafter
the death of his beloved lion.
Rožmberský palác
Jiřská • Daily: April-Oct 9am-5pm; Nov-March 9am-3pm • Accessible only with the
velký okruh ticket
Forthefirsttimeinitshistory,the
Rožmberskýpalác
isnowopentothepublic,havingbeen
in the hands of the Ministry of the Interior since 1918. It was built by the powerful Rožm-
berk family in the sixteenth century; in 1600 Rudolf II gained possession in exchange for
what is now the Schwarzenberský palác on
Hradčanské náměstí
.
The Holy Trinity Chapel,
with its wonderful trompe l'oeil frescoes, survives from those days, but the rest of the rooms
have been decked out with period furniture to evoke the period from 1753, when the palace
became the Institute of Noblewomen (Ústav šlechtičen), a sort of retirement home for aris-
