Staletá Praha 26, 1/2010, 92-113 | DOI: 10.56112/sp.2010.1.06

The "Residence" in the Royal garden of Prague castle. Work by three eminent architects - K. I. Dientzenhofer, A. Haffenecker and P. Janák

František Kašička^1,2, Pavel Zahradník³

¹ Ústav památkové péče a renovací

² Fakulty architektury ČVUT v Praze

³ Národní památkový ústav, ústřední pracoviště

The Czech presidential residence in the Royal garden of the Prague castle has been inaccessible for a survey of the development and modifications of this part of the castle area since it had been built. Only the opening of the property and declassification of the archive documentation in the 1990s enabled the recognition, analyse and evaluation of the successive participation of eminent architects of the period on the building construction. Building activity by the south terrace wall of the Renaissance Royal Garden on the site of present "Residence" started in 1731 by building an expensive and sizable greenhouse. Its completion was assisted by K.I.Dientzenhofer. After the greenhouse was damaged by Prussian bombing, architect A.Haffenecker preserved and modified the central entrance pavillon and a small tower like summer-house. In 1947-1950 architect P. Janák used the remnants of the building for one of his fundamental works - the presidential residence. Problems, individual needs of presidents and fractional functional modifications are noted mainly in Janák's diary and subsequently in the declassified archive documents.

Keywords: Prague castle - presidential residence - Royal garden - Baroque greenhouse - Baroque pavilion - Kilián Ignác Dientzenhofer - Antonín Haffenecker - Pavel Janák - architecture of the 18th-20th century

Published: June 15, 2010