Valdštejnská lodžie / Wallenstein Loggia - Jicín (East Bohemia) - Wikipedia Entries on Waymarking.com

The Wallenstein Loggia (Valdštejnská lodžie), a unique early Baroque monument near the town of Jicín, was built in 1627-1632 by Duke Albrecht of Wallenstein (Albrecht z Valdštejna) following the Italian model. Loggia is opened to south into park by a great arcade with a magnificent terrace with stairway. It belongs to a larger complex, which today, in addition to it, also consists of a manor with farm buildings and a large park Libosad with a grotto.

The whole area is located at the foot of the picturesque basalt hill Zebín. It is part of Wallenstein's Baroque composed landscape - designed landscape axes, connecting sacral buildings, landscape landmarks and the town of Jicín. From Jicín to Loggia leads a four-row linden alley, which is almost two kilometers long. The building, to the floors of which a monumental elliptical staircase was to lead, was probably intended for various festivities with its surroundings. Rare plants were planted in a large park, grotts, fountains and a large reservoir were built here. The Wallenstein Loggia was supposed to be the pride of the whole landscape, but unfortunately with the death of the Duke the realization of a ostentatious and timeless dream ended. So this whole project was never completed or understood. Inadequate building modifications as well as the subsequent devastation caused the Loggia to be perceived for a long time as an unusable and uneconomical dilapidated building.

Several architects took part in the construction - Andrea Spezza, Niccolo Sebregondi, Giovanni Pieroni - but due to the lack of written sources, it is difficult to determine which of them had the greatest credit for the construction of the summer house. At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, at the order of the new owner Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff, the Loggia was partially completed and transformed into a summer house with a Classicist interior. However, the reconstruction resigned from making the upper floors accessible as well as the originally intended monumental staircase. However, the Trauttmansdorffs did not use the Loggia as a summer house very much, and the whole building soon began to fall into disrepair again. The town of Jicín showed interest in the area in the 1930s, and together with the adjacent park and pheasantry bought in in 1936. After repairs, when the coat of arms of the town of Jicín was inserted into the façade of Loggia with the year of their completion, it was also opened to the public with the Libosad park.

In the following decades, the area was not systematically used or repaired. Parts of the Court of Honor were used for purely technical purposes, such as the storage of agricultural machinery, the interiors of the main building were inaccessible to the public and the overall condition of the monument gradually deteriorated, which became truly alarming in the 1990s. In recent years, gradual reconstructions have taken place, which have made it possible to open the complex to the public. The Cour d'honneur and the Loggia received new roofs, and the Loggia also received a new façade. The terrace and staircase were also repaired and newly paved, the walls of Libosad and the interiors of the entire south-western half of the Court of Honor were reconstructed and further reconstructions are underway. Café Loggia was opened in the south-western part of the Cour d'honneur in 2015. During the year, the whole area is a venue for regular cultural events, using the non-traditional dreamy atmosphere of a forgotten summer house.

Source: excerpted and translated from Wikipedia and National Heritage Institute portal.