The Rudolfinum is a multipurpose building in Prague on the right bank of the Vltava, opposite Prague Castle. The Böhmische Sparkasse (Česká spořitelna) built it as the House of Artists, and according to the pages of the Czech Philharmonic it was a structure with a concept that had no equal at the time of its creation.[1]
Origin of the idea
The Böhmische Sparkasse, founded in 1825 as the oldest financial institution of the Kingdom of Bohemia, decided to mark its 50th anniversary with a gift of 400,000 gulden for a charitable purpose. The director of the institution, Wenzel Ritter von Worowka, persuaded the management that the money should support the visual arts and music, since the project was to concern all clients regardless of nationality or social standing. The construction of the House of Artists was approved by the savings bank's general meeting on 19 November 1872.[1]
Name of the building
As early as 1873 the savings bank decided to give the building the name of the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Rudolf. The building was meant to express loyalty to the Habsburg family and the monarchy, and the young archduke was very popular at the time. The choice of name also took into account Emperor Rudolf II, a friend of the arts. The neighbouring embankment and the nearby chain footbridge received the same name.[1]
Site of the building
The plot lies on a place called Rejdiště, which was then a peripheral part of the city with low buildings, enclosures and structures for storing timber and other economic purposes. The transformation of the place was set off in 1868–1869 by the construction of the chain footbridge. Purchases and demolitions of old embankment houses followed, and the Rudolfinum was then built from June 1876. The embankment was reworked in 1878, the Uměleckoprůmyslová škola was established in 1882 and the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague in 1897. The building of the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, from the 1920s then completed the form of this island of art and education.[1]
Architects and construction
The savings bank announced an architectural competition and in June 1874 received eight designs, among them the joint project of Josef Zítek and Josef Schulz. The jury of experts did not select a winner, but Wenzel Ritter von Worowka chose on his own decision the design of the Czech architects for execution, as he considered its revision the easiest. Zítek and Schulz travelled at their own expense through England, Belgium, France and Germany, where they viewed concert halls and galleries and consulted experts. In Bayreuth they met Richard Wagner and discussed the acoustics of concert halls with him. They submitted the revised plans in April 1875 and the execution project in May 1876.[1]
Work on the foundations began in June 1876. The foundations had to be laid deeper than planned, to a depth of nine metres, that is two metres below the level of the Vltava, and the earthworks therefore dragged on into 1878. The building was carried out by the builder Jan Bělský.[1]