Prague, Part 19: Schwarzenberský palác (Schwarzenberg Palace)

Near the main entrance to Prague Castle is the intricately-frescoed Schwarzenberg Palace.

Schwarzenberg Palace exterior

The whole exterior, including both sides of the courtyard walls, is covered in an intricate pattern, made by applying plaster to a wall, and then scratching it away before it sets. I later learned this is called sgraffito – many buildings in Prague use this decorative style, but none I saw did so on such a grand scale as this building:

(click any image below for a larger version)

Segway tourists

Our interest piqued by it’s impressive sgraffito exterior, we decided to check it out and take a break from the tourist-heavy grounds of the castle proper.

Cherub w/cross

Schwarzenberg Palace houses the Old Masters collection of the Czech National Gallery, and it was nearly empty when we visited. Note though that although photography is permitted, I had to leave my camera bag, and Sarah her purse, in a locker at the front desk, which I wasn’t thrilled about.

Licky, licky

The collection was only of moderate interest to me, as I can only look at so much medieval Christian art before my eyes start to glaze over. It was all obviously of good quality, though, and we enjoyed walking around the lovely building itself.

Renaissance fan

More interesting was the collection, downstairs, of textiles and silver, comprised of gowns, fans, serving ware, and the like.

An early spork!

It’s interesting how very different the clothing fashions were then, but how similar the utensils are to now. I guess a fork & spoon are pretty hard to improve on. Unless you’re using chopsticks, of course.

St. Peter(?) painting

After a few more galleries of stern-looking saints and cherubic, um, cherubs, we’d seen our fill (and most of the collection).

Angel panting

The interior collection of Schwarzenberg Palace can be skipped unless you have a particular interest in 16-18th century art (in which case you should definitely go), but it was inexpensive, and a nice break from the much-more-crowded buildings of the Prague Castle complex.

Prague index: