This charming Rococo mansion is situated in the heart of Liben, on a well-groomed green at the edge of an extensive park. Once, a Gothic castle was located where the mansion (House No. 1) now stands. The castle was located in the middle of a settlement, mentioned for the first time as a property of the wealthy Rotlev family of the Old Town in 1363. Eliška Hoff manová of Donín bought the estate for 52,000 threescore Meissen groschen from Jirí Bryknar and his brother Albrecht in 1595. She built a small Renaissance mansion on the site.
Soon, the Liben mansion became the venue of an event that entered history textbooks: this is where Emperor Rudolf II concluded the Peace of Liben with his brother Matthias on 25 June 1608. At that time Matthias’s forces were preparing for an incursion in Prague but a resolute action of the Czech nobility secured the throne for Rudolph, although not for a long time. Naturally, the Emperor had to make extensive concessions. He was forced to surrender rule over Hungary, Moravia and Austria to Matthias.
The mansion, together with the village and its broad environs were considerably damaged during the Prussian incursion in the spring of 1757. The then burgomaster of the Prague Old Town, Václav Fridrich of Friedenberg, decided to utilize the necessary repairs of the mansion for thorough renovation in the Rococo style. He won fi nancial support from Empress Maria Theresa herself for his project, off ering her the mansion as a temporary residence during her journeys to Prague and visitations to the Terezín Fortress construction site. The Liben Mansion House received its current form during redevelopment designed and carried out by the Prague architect Jan Josef Prachner in 1769– 1770. The existing building was enlarged by a splendid eastern wing with a small turret and a clock and by the Chapel of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception. The chapel was consecrated on 2 December 1770 and one year later it was declared public as it was used in place of a Catholic church in Liben until 1905.
The Liben Mansion House is a remarkable historic Rococo style building. While its outer architecture has not undergone substantial changes since 1770, its original interiors have been preserved only in part. Special attention should be paid fi rst of all to the festive hall on the fi rst fl oor of the eastern wing, which has been one of the most popular wedding halls in Prague since the 1960s. The interior is supplemented with a Late Empire style tiled stove; the original furniture has not survived. The interior of the mansion’s chapel also has indisputable value. All the decorative paintings were created by the outstanding 18th-century Czech painter Ignác Raab. The altar itself is a work of Richard Jirí Prachner, a sculptor and a carver, father of the mansion’s redevelopment designer. The side altar and the pulpit were created by the Old Town carver A. Krimm and the master joiner Jakub Emplert.
Since the beginning of the 1990s, the Liben Mansion House premises have regularly hosted spring and autumn concert series; since 1995, it has also been the venue of the Liben Youth Spring music festival.
Source and more information: (
visit link)