PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Uličný, Petr
TI  - The Magic of the View : Wenceslas IV's castle in Zderaz in Prague
DP  - 2024 Jan 5
TA  - Staletá Praha
PG  - 2--36
VI  - 39
IP  - 1
AID - 10.56112/sp.2023.1.01
IS  - 02316056
AB  - The castle in Zderaz, built on the banks of the Vltava River in the New Town of Prague at the turn of the 15<sup>th</sup> century, one of the residences of King Wenceslas IV (r. 1378-1419), is depicted on many historical views of Prague. Newly identified drawing by the Dutch painter Roelandt Savery from around 1610 provides a detailed idea of this otherwise completely vanished castle. This drawing, together with already known vedute, enables to reconstruct the formation process of the castle, with a large residential tower in the earlier core, reminiscent of the East Bohemian castle of Kost. King Wenceslas added short wings to this core, probably following the style of French royal residences, allowing views towards the river and the garden. This characteristic feature of the castle and the viewing aspect can be assigned among phenomena of castles built by Wenceslas IV, such as the limitation of fortification elements and the arbitrary play with the structural details of the vaults.