LOOK AT: The Open House Prague Festival has unlocked dozens of unique objects
The range of organizers was really wide, among eighty buildings representing historical, modern, but also purely contemporary architecture include the Art Garden reminiscent of sculptor Karel Novák under the Nuselský Bridge, the almost forgotten evangelical cemetery in Strašnice and even the oldest and largest paddle steamer on Vltava, now called Vyšehrad.
With an editorial lens, we chose the now completely inaccessible neoclassical Desfours Palace to visit, where ten to fifteen groups of visitors are offered a well-founded explanation by Martin Bělohradský. The former palace-type residential building is located in Na Florenci Street in Prague’s New Town. The building, excellent especially for its interior decoration, has been a cultural monument since 1980.
Among other visitors was also an architecture student from Bratislava. “I chose this palace from the Open House program, it will be reconstructed and I wanted to see it in its current state,” said Alexandra Šiková, 24. “As a future architect, it was immediately clear where she was going,” her friend Patricia Hochel must smile with a smile.
The 8th year of the Open House Prague festival will take place on May 16-22, 2022. And you can also help with its organizations, either as volunteers or by the organizers drawing attention to another interesting object that would deserve accessible within the festival. . All essential information can be found at pages Prague Open Day.
Desfours Palace
The three-storey terraced corner house with two floors of vaulted cellars was built on the site of the former garden of Václav Teisinger (1758–1831) in the years 1845–1847, the architect was Josef Kranner. Even as it was under construction, the nobleman Franz Desfours-Walderode bought it from the entrepreneur Albert Klein von Wiesenberg in 1847, and the result of his intervention in the project was especially the rich interior decoration in some parts of the house. The painter Karel Nacovský and the sculptor and plasterer Ferdinand Pischelt took part in the interior decoration. Part of the house served as the owner’s residence during his stay in Prague, part served as a tenement house. A neo-renaissance greenhouse with a dome was built in the garden next to the house. Marie Anna, widow of Franz Desfours-Walderod, sold the house in 1878. In 1951, the greenhouse in the garden was demolished, and in 1983, the west wing of the palace was demolished due to the construction of Red Law printers. The building has been empty and neglected since the 1990s. In 1983, the demolition of the entire building was even considered in connection with the planned construction of the highway. In 1995, the palace was transferred to the ownership of the capital city of Prague, but the city administration did not find use for it. According to studies from 2016, the house could be used for the needs of the nearby Museum of the Capital City of Prague. of Prague. Prague councilors need to transfer the building under the museum in July 2020. / source: Wikipedia /