Lobkowicz Palace, Prague: The Lobkowicz Collections & History

The palace was constructed in the latter half of the 16th century by the Czech nobleman Jaroslav of Pernštejn and was completed by his brother, Vratislav of Pernštejn, who served as the chancellor of the Czech Kingdom.

Jaroslav of Pernštejn, a Czech nobleman, is credited as the founder of the Lobkowicz Palace, with its construction beginning during his lifetime in the second half of the 16th century.

Vratislav of Pernštejn, brother of Jaroslav, oversaw the completion of the Lobkowicz Palace in the second half of the 16th century. He also held the position of chancellor of the Czech Kingdom.

The palace became part of the Lobkowicz family through the marriage of Polyxena to Zdeněk Vojtěch, 1st Prince Lobkowicz. This marked a significant shift in the ownership and historical role of the palace.

Following the Second Defenestration of Prague in 1618, Protestant rebels who survived took refuge in Lobkowicz Palace, where they were protected by Polyxena, indicating the palace's involvement in significant political events.

After the Battle of White Mountain in 1620, the Catholic Lobkowicz family's influence grew, leading to Lobkowicz Palace taking on a more formal, imperial role as the family's Prague residence for political and ceremonial purposes.

Following the Thirty Years' War, Václav Eusebius, 2nd Prince Lobkowicz, was responsible for significant baroque alterations to the palace, including lavishly decorated salons and redesigning it in the Italianate style.

Under Václav Eusebius, 2nd Prince Lobkowicz, the palace underwent a significant redesign in the Italianate style, evident today in the Imperial Hall's frescoes and decorative motifs, as well as in the Concert Hall and Balcony Room.

In the 18th century, Joseph František Maximilian, 7th Prince Lobkowicz, commissioned a reconstruction of the palace's exterior, including the addition of panoramic balconies, in preparation for Emperor Leopold II's coronation as King of Bohemia in 1791.

Around 1811, during the war with Napoleon, Lobkowicz Palace was utilized as a hospital for wounded soldiers.

The Lobkowicz family property, including the Palace, was confiscated for 63 years, from 1939 to 2002, by Nazi and later Communist regimes.

In 1939, following the occupation of Czechoslovakia, Nazi forces confiscated the Lobkowicz Palace, along with all other family properties.

After being returned briefly in 1945, the Palace was seized again by the Communist government after their takeover in 1948.

After World War I, Maximilian Lobkowicz made rooms available to the Czechoslovak government headed by Tomas G. Masaryk, demonstrating support for the new republic.

During the period of Communist rule, from 1948 to 1989, the Lobkowicz Palace served various purposes, including state offices and as a museum of Czech history.

Following the Velvet Revolution and a twelve-year restitution process, the Lobkowicz Palace was returned to the ownership of the Lobkowicz family in 2002.

After four years of restoration and refurbishment, the Lobkowicz Palace was opened to the public for the first time on April 2, 2007, as the Lobkowicz Palace Museum.

In 1907, Max Dvořák created the first complete catalogue of the Lobkowicz Collections, which reflects over seven centuries of Central European cultural, social, political, and economic life.

Following restitution laws in the early 1990s, the Lobkowicz family was able to reassemble most of their extensive art collection, making it available to the public for the first time.

The Lobkowicz Collections feature three highly acclaimed artworks: Pieter Brueghel the Elder's 'The Hay Harvest' (1565), and two panoramic views of London by Canaletto.

The Lobkowicz Collections include decorative and sacred arts objects dating from the 13th to the 20th centuries, with surviving artifacts like a 12th-century reliquary cross and a 14th-century reliquary head.

The Jezeri Bust, a gold reliquary head of a female saint dated c. 1300, originally found in a trunk of theatrical props, is now displayed in the Lobkowicz Palace Museum.

Late-Renaissance and early-baroque ceramics from Deruta, Italy, featuring the Pernštejn family crest, were commissioned in 1551 and are considered among the earliest Italian ceramics brought to Bohemia.

Wenzel Ferdinand, Count Lobkowicz, commissioned the largest surviving Delft dinner service around 1680, consisting of 150 pieces, a selection of which is displayed at the Lobkowicz Palace Museum.

Eighteenth and nineteenth-century examples of Meissen porcelain are prevalent in the collections, reflecting the factory's proximity to Lobkowicz landholdings and castles.

The Music Archive of the Lobkowicz Collection, originally housed at Roudnice Castle, contains over 5,000 items and was returned to the family in its entirety in 1998.

The Music Archive holds what is regarded as the world's largest private collection of baroque music for plucked instruments, with an extensive representation of French composers.

The Music Archive includes late 18th- and early 19th-century works by composers such as Beethoven, including his Third (Eroica), Fourth, and Fifth symphonies.

Joseph Franz Maximilian, the 7th Prince Lobkowicz, was a major patron of Beethoven, to whom he dedicated several symphonies, providing financial support that allowed Beethoven freedom to compose.

The collections include musical instruments from house orchestras, such as lutes from the 16th and 17th centuries, violins, violoncelli, and a rare suite of six silver trumpets made in Vienna in 1716.

Two armoury rooms at Lobkowicz Palace display firearms, primarily rifles and pistols produced locally between 1650 and 1750 by Prague and Roudnice craftsmen, reflecting the family's patronage.

The collection includes a group of identical flintlock rifles produced for the Lobkowicz Militia in the 18th century, representing one of the largest such collections.

The palace hosted an exhibition of 'Illustrated geography and history of Bohemia' by Bavarian cartographer Mauritius Vogt, which ran until May 31, 2015.

The Lobkowicz Palace is unique within the Prague Castle complex as it is the only building that is privately owned.

The Lobkowicz Palace serves as the location for the Lobkowicz Collections and Museum, displaying a selection of works from the family's extensive holdings.