
Wallenstein Palace by Vojtech Kubašta - Prague, Czech Republic
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N 50° 05.384 E 014° 24.290
33U E 457426 N 5548776
Wallenstein Palace by Vojtech Kubašta
Waymark Code: WM189NV
Location: Hlavní město Praha, Czechia
Date Posted: 06/24/2023
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This palace is the first monumental building in style of the early Baroque in Prague. It was built between the years 1624 and 1630 at the site of 26 houses, 6 gardens, 2 brickyards and 1 building plot for one of the most powerful and wealthiest Czech noblemen of the post-White Mountain period Albrecht Václav Eusebius of Wallenstein (1583 - 1634), since 1625 a general who as an imperial generalissimo was successful in battles. He was unusually ambitious, unscrupulous and irascible, so he could serve as an example of pathological careerism. In accordance with his horoscope he ended badly: in 1634 he was murdered as a traitor in a town of Cheb on the Emperor's command for leading secret negotiations with the Emperor’s enemies. By building an extensive residence Wallenstein aimed to compete even with the Prague Castle itself. He acquired enormous property by purchasing the confiscated property of the rebel Czech Estates and he strengthened his position by his second marriage to Isabella Katharina, daughter of a high-ranking Count of Harrach. Almost everything was razed for the construction of the palace except an imposing palace of Jan Rudolf Trcka of Lípa that Wallenstein finally obtained, as well. The remnants of this Renaissance Trcka’s house, one of the most pretentious buildings in Prague of the 16th and 17th centuries, i.e. vaults, remains of plaster, brickworks and other fragments, were found and preserved after uncovering floors in the Knights’ Hall during the last renovation. Despite the resistance of the Lesser Town settlers, even the Písecká gate, which had stood there since 1257 at the present-day Pálffy Palace (Pálffyovský palác), was then demolished due to the construction. Not even the Augustinians of St. Thomas managed to resist, to whose successors the Wallenstein descendants ceded a part of the garden for their famous brewery after more than 100 years.
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Vojtech Kubašta (1914, in Vienna – 1992, Prague) (
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