Malá Strana - The Rough Guide to Prague - page 93

EAST GERMANS GO OVER THE WALL
In the summer of 1989, several thousand East Germans climbed over the garden wall of
the West German embassy compound to demand West German citizenship, which had
been every German's right since partition. The neighbouring streets were soon jam-packed
with abandoned Trabants, as the beautiful Lobkovický palace gardens became a muddy
refugee camp . Eventually the Czechoslovak government gave in and organized special
sealed trains to take the East Germans - cheered on their way by thousands of Praguers -
over the Iron Curtain, thus prompting the exodus that eventually brought down the Berlin
Wall.
Instituto Italiano di Cultura
Vlašská 34 • Mon-Thurs 10am-noon & 3-6pm, Fri 10am-noon • Free • 257 090 681, iicpraga.esteri.it •
Tram #12, #20 or #22 to Malostranské náměstí
Opposite the Lobkovický palace, the former Italian hospital, now the Instituto Italiano di
Cultura , is worth venturing inside if there's an exhibition on. It contains a lovely Baroque
chapel on the ground floor, whose rich plasterwork frames some unusual grisaille frescoes.
TheinstitutealsoorganizeseventsatotherPraguevenues;it'sworthcheckingtheprogramme
to see what's on.
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Valdštejnský palác
Valdštejnské náměstí • Sat & Sun: April-Sept 10am-5pm; Oct-March 10am-4pm • Free • 257 075 707,
senat.cz • Metro Malostranská
TothenorthofMalostranskénáměstí,upTomášská,liesthe Valdštejnskýpalác ,whichtakes
up the whole of the eastern side of Valdštejnské náměstí and Valdštejnská. As early as 1621,
Albrecht von Waldstein started to build a palace that would reflect his status as command-
er of the Imperial Catholic armies of the Thirty Years' War. By buying, confiscating and
then destroying 26 houses, three gardens and a brick factory, he succeeded in ripping apart a
densely populated area of Malá Strana to make way for one of the first, and largest, Baroque
palaces in the city. The Czech upper house, or Senát , is now housed here, and at weekends
you can visit several of the frescoed Baroque rooms they use.