Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Hradčanské náměstí
Hradčanské náměstí
fans out from the castle gates, surrounded by the oversized palaces of
the old Catholic nobility. Though some of these palaces house major collections belonging
to the
National Gallery
, for the most part it's a tranquil space that's generally ignored by
the tour groups marching through intent on the Hrad. The one spot everyone heads for is the
ramparts in the southeastern corner, by the top of the Zámecké schody, which provide an in-
comparableviewovertheredrooftopsofMaláStrana,pastthefamousgreendomeandtower
ofthechurchofsvMikulášandbeyondtoCharlesBridgeandthespiresofStaréMěsto.Few
people make use of the square's central lawn, which is heralded by a giant green wrought-
iron lamppost decked with eight separate lamps from the 1860s, and, behind it, a Baroque
plague column, with saintly statues by Ferdinand Maximilian Brokof.
Until the great fire of 1541, the square was the hub of Hradčany, lined with medieval shops
and stalls but with no real market as such. After the fire, the developers moved in; the show-
iest palace on the square is the
Schwarzenberskýpalác
, one of the National Gallery venues.
At no. 2, another Schwarzenberg pile, the
Salmovskýpalác
, served as the Swedish embassy
until the 1970s when the dissident writer Pavel Kohout took refuge here. Frustrated in their
attempts to force him out, the Communists closed the embassy down - today it is now an-
other branch of the National Gallery. Nearby you'll see a statue of the country's founder,
T.G. Masaryk
, unveiled in 2000. On the opposite side of the square, just outside the castle
gates, the sumptuous vanilla-coloured
Arcibiskupský palác
has been seat of the archbishop
of Prague since the beginning of the Roman Catholic Church's suzerainty over the Czechs,
following the Battle of Bílá hora. The Rococo exterior hints at the even more extravagant
furnishings inside; the interior is open to the public only on Maundy Thursday (the Thursday
before Easter).
Salmovský palác - Czech nineteenth-century art
Hradčanské náměstí 2 • Tues-Sun 10am-6pm • 150Kč •
ngprague.cz
The National Gallery's
Czech nineteenth-century art collection
resides in the
Salmovský
palác
. The majority of the works displayed are pretty unexceptional, though due to the prox-
imityofPrague'sheadliningsights,thingsherearealwaysblissfullypeacefulandcrowd-free.
Look out for Antonín Machek's eye-catching series of 32 naive scenes depicting Bohemian
rulersfromKroktoFerdinandIV,andnumerouspiecesbymembersoftheinfluential
Mánes
family
, including Antonín Mánes, whose success in getting the Czech countryside to look
like Italy gave birth to Romantic Czech landscape painting. Three of his offspring also took
up the brush: Quido specialized in idealized peasant genre pictures; Amálie obeyed her fath-
er'swishesandrestricted herselftoalittle gentle landscape painting; Josefwasthemostsuc-
cessful of the trio, much in demand as a portrait artist, and one of the leading exponents of
patriotically uplifting depictions of national events (he himself took part in the 1848 disturb-
