Prague has plenty of places to visit at least once in your life. The first well-known places, that comes to your mind after hearing the world Prague. Such as Prague Castle and its surroundings. Since I live in Prague, I have quite an overview of these places. And I enjoy looking for and searching for their history. Because if you do not know why and who built the place and what has happened over the years, you are missing one piece from the whole picture. Of course, I do not want it to be tiring for you. If I wanted that I could just copy the whole Wikipedia here and send links to the old history books that I still remember from high school.
That's not the case and now I finally can stop babbling and start writing something useful. Today's post will be about a special place. It is Queen Anne's Summer Palace. This place is so special. Certainly for me, and especially for the way it looks. It's a really beautiful building. You may also know this place under the name Royal Summer Palace or Belvedere. Because it is associated with the king and his resting. Queen Anne's Summer Palace is a Renaissance house in the Royal Garden of Prague Castle, which was built in the 16th century as part of the Royal Garden by the Holy Roman Emperor and Czech King Ferdinand I of Habsburg. Decoration of the Summer Palace demonstrated just the Habsburg family.
The Summer Palace served mainly to the ruler and his successors as a place of rest and also represented the family. It was a great place to organize events and balls on hot summer days when visitors could silently admire the beauty of the summer house. It was also used by members of the royal family and senior members of the royal court.
Queen Anne's Summerhouse was built thanks to the architects from Italy, who were entrusted with the construction. According to available information, Paola della Stella is the most well-known name among the three architects. But you know, you will never find out the complete truth unless you lived at that time. Stella and his colleagues built only the ground floor building. And this is important information because the summer house, as we know it today, was completed by Bonifác Wolhmut, who added the first floor and roof.
All summer houses were used only for recreation and for celebrations. They were generally built as part of royal gardens. But the decoration is very interesting in Prague. It is all inspired by the ancient world. Ionic and Doric columns, reliefs and statues of ancient heroes. The main element is also the Singing fountain, which cannot be overlooked. It stands directly in front of the Queen Anne's Summer Palace in the park. And the other elements? They are equally unmistakable.
https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letohrádek_královny_Anny
From our external collaborator Tereza Kultová