Petr Uličný | Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (original) (raw)
Books by Petr Uličný
Publikace Architektura Albrechta z Valdštejna: Italská stavební kultura v Čechách v letech 1600–1... more Publikace Architektura Albrechta z Valdštejna: Italská stavební kultura v Čechách v letech 1600–1635, zpracovaná kolektivem autorů pod vedením Petra Uličného, seznamuje v dosud nebývalém rozsahu se stavebními podniky frýdlantského vévody, s jeho architekty a také s dalšími pozoruhodnými stavbami vznikajícími v té době v českých zemích. V druhém plánu se tu zjevuje v novém kontextu i složitá osobnost stavebníka a jeho jedinečný příspěvek k formování profilu vlastních staveb. Toto neobyčejně důkladné a zároveň inspirativní dílo se vyznačuje několika prvenstvími. Poprvé je tu představena Valdštejnova architektura v plné šíři od prvních fundací na Moravě před Bílou horou až po násilné ukončení vévodova života v roce 1634, přičemž těžiště knihy leží ve vylíčení historie pražského paláce a jičínských projektů. Poprvé jsou tu také prakticky v úplnosti vytěženy prameny z českých i zahraničních archivů, umožňující sledovat například postup stavby jičínského zámku takřka den po dni. Díky svým mimořádným znalostem dobových architektonických forem pak Petr Uličný odkrývá či naznačuje mnohdy nečekané souvislosti s evropskou architekturou oné doby. Na základě plánů, ikonografie a dobových svědectví je tu rovněž poprvé rekonstruována řada staveb zaniklých či nikdy nepostavených, z nichž mnohé byly dosud zcela neznámé. Tato mimořádná kniha přispívá zcela zásadním způsobem k poznání české architektury na přelomu renesanční a barokní epochy.
The first book ever published on the residence of Albrecht of Wallenstein in Jičín, based on the ... more The first book ever published on the residence of Albrecht of Wallenstein in Jičín, based on the extensive archive study and structural analysis of the building, which was heavily remodelled due to numerous fires.
Catalogue with c. one-hundred discovered plans of the key building in Jičín and its surroundings.
Papers by Petr Uličný
Pražský sborník historický
![Research paper thumbnail of Kouzlo vyhlídky: Hrad Václava IV. na Zderaze v Praze [The Magic of the View: Wenceslas IV's castle in Zderaz in Prague]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/110146105/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Staletá Praha, 2023
The castle in Zderaz, built on the banks of the Vltava River in the New Town of Prague at the tur... more The castle in Zderaz, built on the banks of the Vltava River in the New Town of Prague at the turn of the 15th century as one of the residences of King Wenceslas IV (r. 1378–1419), is depicted on many historical views of Prague. Newly identified drawing by the Dutch painter Roelandt Savery from around 1610 provides a detailed idea of this otherwise completely vanished castle. This drawing, together with already known vedute, enables to reconstruct the formation process of the castle, with a large residential tower in the earlier core, reminiscent of the East Bohemian castle of Kost. King Wenceslas added short wings to this core, probably following the style of French royal residences, allowing views towards the river and the garden. This characteristic feature of the castle and the viewing aspect can be assigned among phenomena of castles built by Wenceslas IV, such as the limitation of fortification elements and the arbitrary play with the structural details of the vaults.
Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 2023
The essay attempts a new interpretation of the symbolic meaning of the chapel of St. Wenceslas in... more The essay attempts a new interpretation of the symbolic meaning of the chapel of St. Wenceslas in St. Vitus’s Cathedral in Prague and the chapel of the Passion and Its Instruments, now St. Catherine’s chapel, and the chapel of the Holy Cross, both at Karlstein Castle. They all feature a semiprecious stone dado, which was associated with the Passion of Christ due to its predominant red colour, while the upper part reflected the idea of the Heavenly Jerusalem and Christ’s Second Coming. The chapels were either built to house the Passion relics or were probably planned for their storage, which in the case of the Wenceslas chapel perhaps influenced its unusual form, likely referring to Golgotha, the site of Christ’s Passion.
Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes, 2018
Sylva Dobalová – Jaroslava Hausenblasová (eds), Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria: A Second-Born Son in Renaissance Europe, Vienna, 2021
Bellum et Artes: Mitteleuropa im Dreißigjährigen Krieg. Eine Einführung, 2021
Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes, 2022
This article focuses on the gardens of the Vienna Hofburg during the reign of Hungarian King Matt... more This article focuses on the gardens of the Vienna Hofburg during the reign of Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus (r. 1485-1490). The prevailing view in the literature to date has been that Corvinus made no changes to these gardens during this time, but hitherto overlooked period sources, namely two texts written by the Italian humanist Antonio Bonfini, indicate that opposite is true. They show that Corvinus had aviaries, a pavilion, fountains, covered porticoes, and baths built in the garden along with a loggia, probably figuring in a town plan drawn up by Bonifaz Wohlmut in 1547, was located in the southeast part of the gardens. The gardens likely influenced the appearance of other Central European projects, specifically the garden that Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, created in Lochau around the year 1500 and in the Royal Garden of Prague Castle, established by Ferdinand I in 1534. Because Corvinus during his earlier garden and villa projects in Hungary commissioned Italian masters, bringing for the first time to Central Europe the Renaissance forms, it is perhaps right to suggest that he continued this practice also in Vienna. This would shed new light on the process of the development of Renaissance architecture outside of Italy.
Umění/Art, 2021
In 1579 Rudolf II envisaged the construction of a grand royal palace at Prague Castle, with an ex... more In 1579 Rudolf II envisaged the construction of a grand royal palace at Prague Castle, with an extensive sculptural programme that he undoubtedly planned to commission from Giambologna’s pupil Hans Mont. However, Rudolf shelved the project and Mont left the Prague court in exasperation. In the early years of his reign, Rudolf was clearly looking for a style, and also the painter Bartholomeus Spranger, who waited for several years in Vienna for the emperor’s commission, fell victim to this search. His biographer Karel van Mander even wrote that Rudolf had little interest in art at that time. Thanks to a valuable report by Hans Ulrich Krafft in 1584, however, we know that the emperor already possessed a collection of art, but which had a distinctly erotic content. This was the reason why Rudolf concealed it from his wider society. It was not until 1588 that envoys at the Prague court began to report Rudolf’s preference for ‘lascivious’ art. It was also at the same time that the emperor decided to build a large picture gallery at the castle, called the Spanish Hall, the present Rudolf Gallery and established his magnificence and his reputation as one of the greatest patrons of art in Europe. On his way to it, he built the Summer House near his palace at the castle in about 1579–1582, and this became the home of his ‘erotic Kunstkammer’. Around 1586 he also had a studiolo created on the second floor of the White Tower, which shows that Rudolf was inspired by the towers of Neugebäude, but unlike this model, he kept the decoration in Prague modest, like in the summer palace in the Imperial Mill, which was completed in 1594. While in the older Habsburg architecture there was a contrast between the austere palaces and richly decorated leisure structures, Rudolf seems to have come up with a new concept: buildings with a representational function were to be elaborately articulated, whereas private structures, including summer houses, were to be of modest form. Spranger’s fresco of Hermathena in the vault of the studiolo, inspired by the studiolo in the Palazzo Farnese in Caprarola, was intended to symbolise to symbolise the abode of a wise monarch, as were other planned frescos. It was thus erotica & sapientia that defined Rudolf’s programme in his early years at Prague Castle, and later also played a crucial role in his subsequent magnificent period.
Průzkumy památek, 2021
The queen’s palace which was probably located at Prague Castle since the time of Vladislaus II of... more The queen’s palace which was probably located at Prague Castle since the time of Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary was inhabited by Anne of Bohemia and Hungary, the wife of King Ferdinand I, until 1541 when a fire dwstroyed it. The palace disappeared without a trace from the castle topography and various opinions have been expressed on its exact location. The article presents the options that are based on the analysis of sources, especially the description of the 1541 fire by Václav Hájek of Libočany, hypothesising that the palace had two parts. The main one was to the north of the White Tower, on the site of today’s central wing, while the other one was to the south of the tower, encompassing the compound that was called the Lion’s Court at the time of Rudolf II.
Bellum et Artes: Central Europe in the Thirty Years’ War, 2021
Umění, 2019
Over just a few decades, starting in the last years of the 15th century, three summer palaces tha... more Over just a few decades, starting in the last years of the 15th century, three summer palaces that were all very similar to one another were built in the Bohemian and Hungarian Lands. One stands close to Prague Castle, and since the 19th century has been known as the Belvedere, another on the edge of the former game reserve of Ovenec near Prague, and the third in the Nyék game reserve near Buda. They all had long rectangular cores surrounded by an arcaded walkway on the ground floor, and although they were among the first Renaissance buildings either in this region or the whole transalpine area, no direct model in this form can be found for them in Italy. This article aims to present a new analysis of the relationship between the three buildings, and one that leads to a new view of the genesis of the architecture of the Prague summer palace, which was built in the years 1538–1563 by Paolo della Stella, Giovanni de Spatio and Bonifaz Wohlmut. Paolo della Stella, who was sought out by King Ferdinand I in Genoa in 1537, and has until now been considered the architect of the palace, seems only to have been responsible for details of the building that were influenced by the contemporary work of Michele Sanmicheli and Jacopo Sansovino, while the overall plan with columned arcades encircling the building has its origin in the Central European architecture of Matthias Corvinus and Vladislav Jagiellon. Ferdinand gained a detailed first-hand knowledge of this architecture in 1527, and because apart from a brief visit to Trent in 1536 he was never in Italy, his experience in Hungary was his main opportunity to get to know Renaissance art, and of a very high standard. The other architectural inspiration for the Prague Belvedere was the summer palace in the Ovenec game park, which was built with the help of stonemasons from Buda around the year 1495, and appears to be older than what is known as Building II of the complex in Nyék, probably built around 1502. The ultimate source for the idea of encircling arcades was probably the Medici villa of Poggio a Caiano, built starting in 1495; its plan was brought to the Buda court of Vladislav Jagiellon by one of the Florentine masters.
When the Habsburg dynasty came to the Czech throne in 1526 and then ruled the lands of the Czech ... more When the Habsburg dynasty came to the Czech throne in 1526 and then ruled the lands of the Czech Crown for almost four centuries, its first member, Ferdinand I, entered a splendid royal palace in Prague, standing in the centre of the extensive area of Prague Castle. Less than a century later, however, the situation there was completely different. The Czech King and Roman Emperor Rudolf II resided on the very edge of Prague Castle, in a topographically unsuitable place, and the Old Royal Palace was left to the Czech Royal and professional offices and traders. Even though this was a radical change and one of the most important events in the history of Prague Castle, the questions of why, when and how this great transfer of residence took place, fundamental to the understanding of this central location of the Czech State, have not yet been asked. The most important action was the relocation of the vice-regent of the government of Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol around 1555 to a small palace by the White Tower. The Habsburg architects Hans Tirol and Bonifaz Wohlmut unsuccessfully proposed linking the small palace with the Old Royal Palace by means of a new wing and thus building a worthy residence with a sufficient number of rooms. After ascending to the throne in 1576 the Emperor Rudolf II returned to this idea and had two Florentine architects (Antonio Lupicini in 1579 and Giovanni Gargiolli in 1586) carry out the new proposal, which was consulted in Florence with Francesco I de’Medici and in the second case also adjusted by Bernardo Buontalenti. In the end, however, Rudolf selected a different strategy and concentrated only on extending the palace by the White Tower to the areas of the former ditches, where he built wings containing areas for his collections. It was Rudolf II, then, who moved the Royal and Imperial Residence in Prague Castle to a new location, quite apart from the historical centre of the Castle.
Studia Rudolphina, 2015
During the thirty years that Rudolf II reigned in Bohemia, his residence in Prague Castle underwe... more During the thirty years that Rudolf II reigned in Bohemia, his residence in Prague Castle underwent a remarkable transformation. The main stage of this reconstruction was concentrated into the last decade of the Emperor’s life, when new galleries and stables were built for his expanding collections of art and horses. At this period, a large number of architects and master-builders were active in Prague Castle. They included Giovanni Maria Filippi, Horatio Fontana, and Anton de Moys, while the court carpenter Konrad Engler appeared in the role of building adviser, and the Emperor’s court painter Josef Heintz the Elder also devoted himself to architecture. In addition, the famous Vincenzo Scamozzi paid the Emperor a visit. At the beginning of this sequence came the Netherlandish painter Hans Vredeman de Vries, famous for incorporating architecture with sophisticated compositions into his paintings and for his treatises proposing varied architectural features. He was accompanied to Prague by his son Paul.
Studia Rudolphina, 2018
In 1559–1567, a new garden was created at Prague Castle, which Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol, re... more In 1559–1567, a new garden was created at Prague Castle, which Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol, residing at Prague Castle as the governor, established under his palace at the White Tower. The garden, which was later called Paradise Garden, was divided into three parts. The middle one was a formal garden arranged into quarters, in the eastern one there were an orchard and
a tower-shaped summer house, and in the western smaller part there was an aviary.
From the times of Vladislaus II Jagiello the residence in Prague Castle had two parts. After a co... more From the times of Vladislaus II Jagiello the residence in Prague Castle had two parts. After a costly refurbishment, the Old Royal Palace was adapted as the King’s seat and a new palace was built for the Queen by the White Tower on the west side of Prague Castle. Later it became the residence of Queen Anne Jagiello, wife of Ferdinand I, and after her death, in 1547, it became the residence of the second-born, Bohemian Governor Archduke Ferdinand II. Although not much has survived after numerous reconstructions, one can get a rough idea of its extent and furnishings on the basis of several fragments, written sources and iconography. The refurbishing work led by Hans Tirol is documented for the years 1553–1555. Above the gate next to the White Tower was an armoury on the second floor, described by Pietro Andrea Mattioli as “bella, et rara Armaria di sua Altezza”. Only a ground-floor chamber of Ferdinand’s palace has survived to this day.
Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes , 2018
Around 1600, Radslav Vchynský, one of the wealthiest men in the Bohemian Kingdom, established the... more Around 1600, Radslav Vchynský, one of the wealthiest men in the Bohemian Kingdom, established there a large complex containing three gardens with two ponds and a pheasantry. As well as offering shady recesses for comfort and the fragrance of varied flora, the patron was able to boast of one other unique form of recreation: to visit warm curative springs, accessed directly from the premises of the summerhouse that was at the end of the first garden. The garden’s further development was significantly determined by Frederick V of the Palatine’s short reign in Bohemia, who was able to introduce the Bohemian lands to his grand garden in Heidelberg through de Caus’s recently published and richly illustrated book. The idea of year-round bathing in the Heidelberg garden’s ‘large vaulted room’ and the Teplice springs with their curative effects represented two similar concepts, which Vilém Kinský, no doubt with the assistance of Frederick himself, was able to fuse together into one unique whole in the Teplice garden. Following the model of the Heidelberg garden, he tied the grotto and its curative springs to the myth of Orpheus and the music of Antiquity. Orpheus’ voice and lyre music produced such a blissful sound that they attracted the animals of the forest and won the heart of Eurydice. The work on this project, the plans for which almost certainly originated in 1620, was however delayed by the political situation, and as a result in 1634 the Teplice grotto was not yet fully functional. The Teplice garden and grotto, which until recently were not open to the public, its grounds covered with sawdust from the nearby carpentry shop, constitute an example of how ambitious patrons living in Bohemia could be at that time. It also shows that it was possible for such a grand and almost contemporaneous imitation of the famous eighth wonder of the world in Heidelberg to exist in the Czech Lands, one that for centuries up to the present has remained entirely forgotten.
Umění, 2020
The The Cathedral of St. Vitus at Prague Castle, founded in 1344, was still incomplete when the H... more The The Cathedral of St. Vitus at Prague Castle, founded in 1344, was still incomplete when the Hussite Wars broke out. King Vladislav Jagiellon took up the project again in 1509, but soon afterwards work on it was halted, evidently because the construction of other parts of the castle fortifications was given priority. After being elected King of Bohemia in 1526, Ferdinand I of Habsburg clearly intended to renew work on the cathedral, and in 1530 — evidently under the direction of Benedikt Ried, he had a row of gables erected over the east choir. But then the building work lapsed again and the prospect of further progress was finally ruined by a great fire in 1541; after the fire the king could do no more than restore only the eastern choir, and he even substantially shortened the cathedral. Work was made difficult by a lack of funds, further complicated by Ferdinand’s unwillingness to look for potential sponsors in the ranks of the (Utraquist) nobility and burghers, without whose contributions an ambitious cathedral church could not be built in this era. It was largely the clergy who were left to restore or replace the damaged or lost furnishings and equipment. The size and form of the building were inadequate to the demands of an expanded royal court and especially the court of Queen Anna Jagiellon, for whose retinue of ladies a wooden platform had to be very awkwardly built into one of the chapels. It seems to have been for the queen, too, that Vladislav’s royal oratory was altered before 1537, by the installation of a heated wooden chamber. After the queen’s death in 1547, Ferdinand gave the order for her tombstone to be erected in the Cathedral, but we do not know whether this happened. Anna was buried in the Marian Choir, where until 1619 there was a superb altar, probably created sometime in the 1520s by Lucas Cranach the Elder. Although it has been suggested that the painting was acquired by the emperor Maximilian I, it is most likely that it was purchased later, by Rudolf II, and installed in the cathedral in connection with the building of a new mausoleum in 1589.
Publikace Architektura Albrechta z Valdštejna: Italská stavební kultura v Čechách v letech 1600–1... more Publikace Architektura Albrechta z Valdštejna: Italská stavební kultura v Čechách v letech 1600–1635, zpracovaná kolektivem autorů pod vedením Petra Uličného, seznamuje v dosud nebývalém rozsahu se stavebními podniky frýdlantského vévody, s jeho architekty a také s dalšími pozoruhodnými stavbami vznikajícími v té době v českých zemích. V druhém plánu se tu zjevuje v novém kontextu i složitá osobnost stavebníka a jeho jedinečný příspěvek k formování profilu vlastních staveb. Toto neobyčejně důkladné a zároveň inspirativní dílo se vyznačuje několika prvenstvími. Poprvé je tu představena Valdštejnova architektura v plné šíři od prvních fundací na Moravě před Bílou horou až po násilné ukončení vévodova života v roce 1634, přičemž těžiště knihy leží ve vylíčení historie pražského paláce a jičínských projektů. Poprvé jsou tu také prakticky v úplnosti vytěženy prameny z českých i zahraničních archivů, umožňující sledovat například postup stavby jičínského zámku takřka den po dni. Díky svým mimořádným znalostem dobových architektonických forem pak Petr Uličný odkrývá či naznačuje mnohdy nečekané souvislosti s evropskou architekturou oné doby. Na základě plánů, ikonografie a dobových svědectví je tu rovněž poprvé rekonstruována řada staveb zaniklých či nikdy nepostavených, z nichž mnohé byly dosud zcela neznámé. Tato mimořádná kniha přispívá zcela zásadním způsobem k poznání české architektury na přelomu renesanční a barokní epochy.
The first book ever published on the residence of Albrecht of Wallenstein in Jičín, based on the ... more The first book ever published on the residence of Albrecht of Wallenstein in Jičín, based on the extensive archive study and structural analysis of the building, which was heavily remodelled due to numerous fires.
Catalogue with c. one-hundred discovered plans of the key building in Jičín and its surroundings.
Pražský sborník historický
Staletá Praha, 2023
The castle in Zderaz, built on the banks of the Vltava River in the New Town of Prague at the tur... more The castle in Zderaz, built on the banks of the Vltava River in the New Town of Prague at the turn of the 15th century as one of the residences of King Wenceslas IV (r. 1378–1419), is depicted on many historical views of Prague. Newly identified drawing by the Dutch painter Roelandt Savery from around 1610 provides a detailed idea of this otherwise completely vanished castle. This drawing, together with already known vedute, enables to reconstruct the formation process of the castle, with a large residential tower in the earlier core, reminiscent of the East Bohemian castle of Kost. King Wenceslas added short wings to this core, probably following the style of French royal residences, allowing views towards the river and the garden. This characteristic feature of the castle and the viewing aspect can be assigned among phenomena of castles built by Wenceslas IV, such as the limitation of fortification elements and the arbitrary play with the structural details of the vaults.
Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 2023
The essay attempts a new interpretation of the symbolic meaning of the chapel of St. Wenceslas in... more The essay attempts a new interpretation of the symbolic meaning of the chapel of St. Wenceslas in St. Vitus’s Cathedral in Prague and the chapel of the Passion and Its Instruments, now St. Catherine’s chapel, and the chapel of the Holy Cross, both at Karlstein Castle. They all feature a semiprecious stone dado, which was associated with the Passion of Christ due to its predominant red colour, while the upper part reflected the idea of the Heavenly Jerusalem and Christ’s Second Coming. The chapels were either built to house the Passion relics or were probably planned for their storage, which in the case of the Wenceslas chapel perhaps influenced its unusual form, likely referring to Golgotha, the site of Christ’s Passion.
Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes, 2018
Sylva Dobalová – Jaroslava Hausenblasová (eds), Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria: A Second-Born Son in Renaissance Europe, Vienna, 2021
Bellum et Artes: Mitteleuropa im Dreißigjährigen Krieg. Eine Einführung, 2021
Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes, 2022
This article focuses on the gardens of the Vienna Hofburg during the reign of Hungarian King Matt... more This article focuses on the gardens of the Vienna Hofburg during the reign of Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus (r. 1485-1490). The prevailing view in the literature to date has been that Corvinus made no changes to these gardens during this time, but hitherto overlooked period sources, namely two texts written by the Italian humanist Antonio Bonfini, indicate that opposite is true. They show that Corvinus had aviaries, a pavilion, fountains, covered porticoes, and baths built in the garden along with a loggia, probably figuring in a town plan drawn up by Bonifaz Wohlmut in 1547, was located in the southeast part of the gardens. The gardens likely influenced the appearance of other Central European projects, specifically the garden that Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, created in Lochau around the year 1500 and in the Royal Garden of Prague Castle, established by Ferdinand I in 1534. Because Corvinus during his earlier garden and villa projects in Hungary commissioned Italian masters, bringing for the first time to Central Europe the Renaissance forms, it is perhaps right to suggest that he continued this practice also in Vienna. This would shed new light on the process of the development of Renaissance architecture outside of Italy.
Umění/Art, 2021
In 1579 Rudolf II envisaged the construction of a grand royal palace at Prague Castle, with an ex... more In 1579 Rudolf II envisaged the construction of a grand royal palace at Prague Castle, with an extensive sculptural programme that he undoubtedly planned to commission from Giambologna’s pupil Hans Mont. However, Rudolf shelved the project and Mont left the Prague court in exasperation. In the early years of his reign, Rudolf was clearly looking for a style, and also the painter Bartholomeus Spranger, who waited for several years in Vienna for the emperor’s commission, fell victim to this search. His biographer Karel van Mander even wrote that Rudolf had little interest in art at that time. Thanks to a valuable report by Hans Ulrich Krafft in 1584, however, we know that the emperor already possessed a collection of art, but which had a distinctly erotic content. This was the reason why Rudolf concealed it from his wider society. It was not until 1588 that envoys at the Prague court began to report Rudolf’s preference for ‘lascivious’ art. It was also at the same time that the emperor decided to build a large picture gallery at the castle, called the Spanish Hall, the present Rudolf Gallery and established his magnificence and his reputation as one of the greatest patrons of art in Europe. On his way to it, he built the Summer House near his palace at the castle in about 1579–1582, and this became the home of his ‘erotic Kunstkammer’. Around 1586 he also had a studiolo created on the second floor of the White Tower, which shows that Rudolf was inspired by the towers of Neugebäude, but unlike this model, he kept the decoration in Prague modest, like in the summer palace in the Imperial Mill, which was completed in 1594. While in the older Habsburg architecture there was a contrast between the austere palaces and richly decorated leisure structures, Rudolf seems to have come up with a new concept: buildings with a representational function were to be elaborately articulated, whereas private structures, including summer houses, were to be of modest form. Spranger’s fresco of Hermathena in the vault of the studiolo, inspired by the studiolo in the Palazzo Farnese in Caprarola, was intended to symbolise to symbolise the abode of a wise monarch, as were other planned frescos. It was thus erotica & sapientia that defined Rudolf’s programme in his early years at Prague Castle, and later also played a crucial role in his subsequent magnificent period.
Průzkumy památek, 2021
The queen’s palace which was probably located at Prague Castle since the time of Vladislaus II of... more The queen’s palace which was probably located at Prague Castle since the time of Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary was inhabited by Anne of Bohemia and Hungary, the wife of King Ferdinand I, until 1541 when a fire dwstroyed it. The palace disappeared without a trace from the castle topography and various opinions have been expressed on its exact location. The article presents the options that are based on the analysis of sources, especially the description of the 1541 fire by Václav Hájek of Libočany, hypothesising that the palace had two parts. The main one was to the north of the White Tower, on the site of today’s central wing, while the other one was to the south of the tower, encompassing the compound that was called the Lion’s Court at the time of Rudolf II.
Bellum et Artes: Central Europe in the Thirty Years’ War, 2021
Umění, 2019
Over just a few decades, starting in the last years of the 15th century, three summer palaces tha... more Over just a few decades, starting in the last years of the 15th century, three summer palaces that were all very similar to one another were built in the Bohemian and Hungarian Lands. One stands close to Prague Castle, and since the 19th century has been known as the Belvedere, another on the edge of the former game reserve of Ovenec near Prague, and the third in the Nyék game reserve near Buda. They all had long rectangular cores surrounded by an arcaded walkway on the ground floor, and although they were among the first Renaissance buildings either in this region or the whole transalpine area, no direct model in this form can be found for them in Italy. This article aims to present a new analysis of the relationship between the three buildings, and one that leads to a new view of the genesis of the architecture of the Prague summer palace, which was built in the years 1538–1563 by Paolo della Stella, Giovanni de Spatio and Bonifaz Wohlmut. Paolo della Stella, who was sought out by King Ferdinand I in Genoa in 1537, and has until now been considered the architect of the palace, seems only to have been responsible for details of the building that were influenced by the contemporary work of Michele Sanmicheli and Jacopo Sansovino, while the overall plan with columned arcades encircling the building has its origin in the Central European architecture of Matthias Corvinus and Vladislav Jagiellon. Ferdinand gained a detailed first-hand knowledge of this architecture in 1527, and because apart from a brief visit to Trent in 1536 he was never in Italy, his experience in Hungary was his main opportunity to get to know Renaissance art, and of a very high standard. The other architectural inspiration for the Prague Belvedere was the summer palace in the Ovenec game park, which was built with the help of stonemasons from Buda around the year 1495, and appears to be older than what is known as Building II of the complex in Nyék, probably built around 1502. The ultimate source for the idea of encircling arcades was probably the Medici villa of Poggio a Caiano, built starting in 1495; its plan was brought to the Buda court of Vladislav Jagiellon by one of the Florentine masters.
When the Habsburg dynasty came to the Czech throne in 1526 and then ruled the lands of the Czech ... more When the Habsburg dynasty came to the Czech throne in 1526 and then ruled the lands of the Czech Crown for almost four centuries, its first member, Ferdinand I, entered a splendid royal palace in Prague, standing in the centre of the extensive area of Prague Castle. Less than a century later, however, the situation there was completely different. The Czech King and Roman Emperor Rudolf II resided on the very edge of Prague Castle, in a topographically unsuitable place, and the Old Royal Palace was left to the Czech Royal and professional offices and traders. Even though this was a radical change and one of the most important events in the history of Prague Castle, the questions of why, when and how this great transfer of residence took place, fundamental to the understanding of this central location of the Czech State, have not yet been asked. The most important action was the relocation of the vice-regent of the government of Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol around 1555 to a small palace by the White Tower. The Habsburg architects Hans Tirol and Bonifaz Wohlmut unsuccessfully proposed linking the small palace with the Old Royal Palace by means of a new wing and thus building a worthy residence with a sufficient number of rooms. After ascending to the throne in 1576 the Emperor Rudolf II returned to this idea and had two Florentine architects (Antonio Lupicini in 1579 and Giovanni Gargiolli in 1586) carry out the new proposal, which was consulted in Florence with Francesco I de’Medici and in the second case also adjusted by Bernardo Buontalenti. In the end, however, Rudolf selected a different strategy and concentrated only on extending the palace by the White Tower to the areas of the former ditches, where he built wings containing areas for his collections. It was Rudolf II, then, who moved the Royal and Imperial Residence in Prague Castle to a new location, quite apart from the historical centre of the Castle.
Studia Rudolphina, 2015
During the thirty years that Rudolf II reigned in Bohemia, his residence in Prague Castle underwe... more During the thirty years that Rudolf II reigned in Bohemia, his residence in Prague Castle underwent a remarkable transformation. The main stage of this reconstruction was concentrated into the last decade of the Emperor’s life, when new galleries and stables were built for his expanding collections of art and horses. At this period, a large number of architects and master-builders were active in Prague Castle. They included Giovanni Maria Filippi, Horatio Fontana, and Anton de Moys, while the court carpenter Konrad Engler appeared in the role of building adviser, and the Emperor’s court painter Josef Heintz the Elder also devoted himself to architecture. In addition, the famous Vincenzo Scamozzi paid the Emperor a visit. At the beginning of this sequence came the Netherlandish painter Hans Vredeman de Vries, famous for incorporating architecture with sophisticated compositions into his paintings and for his treatises proposing varied architectural features. He was accompanied to Prague by his son Paul.
Studia Rudolphina, 2018
In 1559–1567, a new garden was created at Prague Castle, which Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol, re... more In 1559–1567, a new garden was created at Prague Castle, which Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol, residing at Prague Castle as the governor, established under his palace at the White Tower. The garden, which was later called Paradise Garden, was divided into three parts. The middle one was a formal garden arranged into quarters, in the eastern one there were an orchard and
a tower-shaped summer house, and in the western smaller part there was an aviary.
From the times of Vladislaus II Jagiello the residence in Prague Castle had two parts. After a co... more From the times of Vladislaus II Jagiello the residence in Prague Castle had two parts. After a costly refurbishment, the Old Royal Palace was adapted as the King’s seat and a new palace was built for the Queen by the White Tower on the west side of Prague Castle. Later it became the residence of Queen Anne Jagiello, wife of Ferdinand I, and after her death, in 1547, it became the residence of the second-born, Bohemian Governor Archduke Ferdinand II. Although not much has survived after numerous reconstructions, one can get a rough idea of its extent and furnishings on the basis of several fragments, written sources and iconography. The refurbishing work led by Hans Tirol is documented for the years 1553–1555. Above the gate next to the White Tower was an armoury on the second floor, described by Pietro Andrea Mattioli as “bella, et rara Armaria di sua Altezza”. Only a ground-floor chamber of Ferdinand’s palace has survived to this day.
Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes , 2018
Around 1600, Radslav Vchynský, one of the wealthiest men in the Bohemian Kingdom, established the... more Around 1600, Radslav Vchynský, one of the wealthiest men in the Bohemian Kingdom, established there a large complex containing three gardens with two ponds and a pheasantry. As well as offering shady recesses for comfort and the fragrance of varied flora, the patron was able to boast of one other unique form of recreation: to visit warm curative springs, accessed directly from the premises of the summerhouse that was at the end of the first garden. The garden’s further development was significantly determined by Frederick V of the Palatine’s short reign in Bohemia, who was able to introduce the Bohemian lands to his grand garden in Heidelberg through de Caus’s recently published and richly illustrated book. The idea of year-round bathing in the Heidelberg garden’s ‘large vaulted room’ and the Teplice springs with their curative effects represented two similar concepts, which Vilém Kinský, no doubt with the assistance of Frederick himself, was able to fuse together into one unique whole in the Teplice garden. Following the model of the Heidelberg garden, he tied the grotto and its curative springs to the myth of Orpheus and the music of Antiquity. Orpheus’ voice and lyre music produced such a blissful sound that they attracted the animals of the forest and won the heart of Eurydice. The work on this project, the plans for which almost certainly originated in 1620, was however delayed by the political situation, and as a result in 1634 the Teplice grotto was not yet fully functional. The Teplice garden and grotto, which until recently were not open to the public, its grounds covered with sawdust from the nearby carpentry shop, constitute an example of how ambitious patrons living in Bohemia could be at that time. It also shows that it was possible for such a grand and almost contemporaneous imitation of the famous eighth wonder of the world in Heidelberg to exist in the Czech Lands, one that for centuries up to the present has remained entirely forgotten.
Umění, 2020
The The Cathedral of St. Vitus at Prague Castle, founded in 1344, was still incomplete when the H... more The The Cathedral of St. Vitus at Prague Castle, founded in 1344, was still incomplete when the Hussite Wars broke out. King Vladislav Jagiellon took up the project again in 1509, but soon afterwards work on it was halted, evidently because the construction of other parts of the castle fortifications was given priority. After being elected King of Bohemia in 1526, Ferdinand I of Habsburg clearly intended to renew work on the cathedral, and in 1530 — evidently under the direction of Benedikt Ried, he had a row of gables erected over the east choir. But then the building work lapsed again and the prospect of further progress was finally ruined by a great fire in 1541; after the fire the king could do no more than restore only the eastern choir, and he even substantially shortened the cathedral. Work was made difficult by a lack of funds, further complicated by Ferdinand’s unwillingness to look for potential sponsors in the ranks of the (Utraquist) nobility and burghers, without whose contributions an ambitious cathedral church could not be built in this era. It was largely the clergy who were left to restore or replace the damaged or lost furnishings and equipment. The size and form of the building were inadequate to the demands of an expanded royal court and especially the court of Queen Anna Jagiellon, for whose retinue of ladies a wooden platform had to be very awkwardly built into one of the chapels. It seems to have been for the queen, too, that Vladislav’s royal oratory was altered before 1537, by the installation of a heated wooden chamber. After the queen’s death in 1547, Ferdinand gave the order for her tombstone to be erected in the Cathedral, but we do not know whether this happened. Anna was buried in the Marian Choir, where until 1619 there was a superb altar, probably created sometime in the 1520s by Lucas Cranach the Elder. Although it has been suggested that the painting was acquired by the emperor Maximilian I, it is most likely that it was purchased later, by Rudolf II, and installed in the cathedral in connection with the building of a new mausoleum in 1589.
Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 2015
St Vitus' s Cathedral, founded in 1344, is a prime example of 14th-century cathedral Gothic, a pr... more St Vitus' s Cathedral, founded in 1344, is a prime example of 14th-century cathedral Gothic, a product of the cooperation between the ingenious architect Peter Parler and his patron, Emperor Charles IV. The unusual layout consisted of a pair of choirs set side by side in the eastern section of the cathedral, an arrangement inspired by the earlier Romanesque double-choir basilica. One was dedicated to St Vitus and was used by the canons, the other to the Virgin Mary and operated by the mansionars. The royal and imperial necropolis was placed in the latter of the two choirs, with Charles IV's tomb-chest protected by a sculptured canopy and surrounded by the cenotaphs of deceased family members and later kings and queens. The form of two choirs is probably the result of an extensive rearrangement of the earlier project completed in the 1350s, when initial plans to locate the royal burial ground in the canons' choir were abandoned. The main choir contained a tabernacle of remarkable design, dating from c. 1365. There may originally have been plans for a third choir to be built around the tomb of St Adalbert located in the middle of the nave, the work on which was initiated in 1392.
This article concerns itself with the study of the dramatic elements in the mediaeval liturgy in ... more This article concerns itself with the study of the dramatic elements in the mediaeval liturgy in Bohemia and the use of mobile statues of Christ or the symbols of Christ (the host, the cross). It focuses on those feasts in the liturgical calendar that were dramatized: leading the ass on Palm Sunday, depositing the host, the cross, or the body of Christ into the Holy Sepulchre on Good Friday and their retrieval before the play of Visit to the Sepulchre on Easter Monday, and finally raising the statue of Christ on Ascension Day. The rubrics of St Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle indicate that on Palm Sunday a live ass used to be led here, and from the 14th century this practice was replaced by a statue of Christ on an Ass, which in 1421 was toppled from the cathedral gallery by revolting Prague citizens. One such statue that has survived to date comes from the commandry of the Order of the Knights of St John in Strakonice. A statue in České Budějovice dating from around 1370 represents the corpora placed in the Sepulchre. Written records attest to the use of such statues in the Monastery of St Thomas in Malá Strana in Prague and in two churches in Olomouc. Also from the Olomouc region are two statues of Christ that have movable arms. The earliest of these statues, which could be removed from the cross and placed in the Easter Sepulchre, is from the Church of St Benedict in Hradčany in Prague and dates from around 1350. A pieta from Lásenice has a detachable Jesus figure with a movable arm. The only portable Holy Sepulchre documented in Bohemia was in the Church of St Barbora in Kutná Hora, it dated from 1464 and was equipped with wheels for portability. The Bohemian example may have been the inspiration for the Czech-born sculptor who carved the entirely transparent Sepulchre for the Busmannkapelle of the Franciscan monastery in Dresden, which was evidently based on the wooden, portable model. The raising of statues on Resurrection Day is illustrated by one such event in Prague in 1509 in the Church of St Thomas in Malá Strana.
