Queen Anne's Summer Palace is a Renaissance building on the eastern edge of the Royal Garden of Prague Castle in Prague. It was built on the orders of Ferdinand I for his wife Anne Jagiellon, and according to Prague City Tourism construction lasted from 1538 to 1560.[1] Today it serves as an exhibition space for fine and applied art.[1]
Origins
Ferdinand I laid out a royal garden beyond the walls of Prague Castle and in 1538 began building a summer palace in it. Queen Anne did not live to see it finished; she died in 1547 after the birth of her fifteenth child. Ferdinand left Prague after the fire of 1541, which interrupted the construction.[1]
According to Prague City Tourism, the palace was built in the Italian Renaissance style to the design and model of the Italian builder and stonemason Paolo della Stella. The work was led by Giovanni Spatio, followed by G. Maria del Pambio. Work continued in 1548 to 1552 under the direction of Paolo della Stella, who also carved the stone reliefs on the arcades of the gallery.[1] In 1563 the building was completed by Hans Tirol and above all by Bonifaz Wohlmut, who added the upper floor.[1]
Decoration and form
The website describes the palace as the purest Renaissance architecture outside Italy.[1] The building is encircled by an ornamental and figural frieze 80 centimetres high, the 36 columns of the outer arcades have decorated Tuscan capitals, and the walls carry 114 reliefs. They show mostly scenes from mythology, hunting and war. Among them is the founder, Ferdinand I, with the Order of the Golden Fleece on his chest, handing a fig blossom to his wife. The stonework is carried out in fine-grained sandstone.[1]
The ground floor, with the living quarters, is surrounded by an arcaded gallery, and the upper floor held a ballroom and a gallery. The copper roof, shaped like an upturned ship's keel, was decorated with red and white stripes and painted symbols of the Kingdom of Bohemia.[1]
Later history
The palace was used most by Rudolf II, who set up an astronomical observatory on the upper floor. Guests included Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler. The emperor himself died here in 1612, after losing the royal title. The palace was then abandoned, and in 1648 Swedish soldiers plundered it. Over time it was also called Belvedere, which the website calls an incorrect name, Ferdinandeum after its founder, or Observatorium.[1]
Joseph II handed the palace over to the army, which set up an artillery laboratory in it. In 1836, on the occasion of the coronation of Ferdinand V, the Supreme Burgrave Karel Chotek had the artillerymen moved out. Between 1841 and 1855 the architects Bernard Grueber and Peter Nobile restored the building and adapted it as a picture gallery of the Society of Patriotic Friends of the Arts. A monumental Neoclassical staircase was also created at that time.[1]
Access
According to Prague City Tourism, the palace will be closed for more than a year from May 2026. Access to the Royal Garden will not be restricted.[1]