Velká mícovna Pražského hradu / Prague Castle Ball Game Hall
N 50° 05.552 E 014° 24.068
33U E 457163 N 5549090
The Prague Castle Ball Game Hall (Velká mícovna Pražského hradu), richly sgrafitto-decorated building located in Royal Garden of the Prague Castle, is one of pearls of Renaissance architecture in the Castle area...
Waymark Code: WM8H2M
Location: Hlavní město Praha, Czechia
Date Posted: 04/02/2010
Views: 175
The Prague Castle Ball Game Hall (Velká mícovna Pražského hradu), richly decorated Renaissance building, has a dramatic history - until the 17th century it served successively for ball games and as a riding school and a stable. During the reign of the Emperor Joseph II it was used as a military storehouse. In the 20th century it was damaged by static defects and gunfire. It was burned to such an extent that only the peripheral walls remained of it.
The Ball Game Hall now contains five tapestries showing Antonius and Cleopatra made by Belgium workshop of Jan van Leefdael. Beautiful Renaissance sgraffitoes on the walls represent four elements (earth, air, fire, water), virtues (foresight, moderation, continence, hopefulness, fairness and courage) and sciences (theology, astronomy, geometry, music, arithmetic, rhetoric, dialectic and grammar). In front of the Ball Game Hall you can see a valuable Baroque statuary "Night" from 1734. The statuary "Day" was destroyed by the siege of the Castle by Prussian armies in 1757.
In 1952 its reconstruction was completed under the supervision of P. Janak, but the Ball Game Hall was concealed in the closed Royal Garden. It was made accessible to the public after 1989 and is now used mainly for exhibitions of creative art, concerts and important social events.