The inaccessible buildings in Prague were open to the public at the weekend. How they look?
Mayor’s residence
The entire first floor of the Municipal Library in Prague on Mariánské náměstí belongs to the Mayor’s Residence. The Art Deco interiors were built between 1925 and 1928. There are also reception lounges, a relaxation lounge with a fountain, or a music lounge with a ceiling inlaid with gold slices. In the dining room there is a well-thought-out serving facility or space with a screen for musicians who did not disturb their guests at the meal and they could pay not only for the musical experience, but also for the food without strangers’ eyes. Upstairs is the mayor’s apartment, which is connected by an internal staircase with the representation rooms.
View of the atrium of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Author: editorial archive
Czernin Palace
The majestic building, which houses the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the garden is a cultural monument, was accessible only one day. The palace was left by the diplomat Count Humprecht Jan Černín of Chudenice after 1664. Marble stairs lead to the 1st floor, which offers countless rooms for various occasions. More than lavish halls, but you are interested in the bathroom, from which mysterious and to this day unexplained circumstances dropped the son of Jan Masaryk – Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the then Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czechoslovak Republic.
Winternitz’s villa
The inconspicuous building on the Malvazinky is again proof of Loos’ genius. Like Müller’s villa, it is quite ordinary from the outside, but inside it hides interiors that again refer to free gas space (the house is not divided into many rooms, the floors are blurred and everything is interconnected), thanks to its orientation Loos dared to place in the main large windows that, thanks to their design, play a dance of shadows in the room at sunset.
Diamond House
Adolf Hoffmeister, a diplomat, writer and publicist, had the apartment building built for himself and his family in the Cubist style. His grandson told the house directly, so there was no shortage of undercounter information. We learned, for example, that there were originally 4 flats in the house – each with an area of about 180 m2. Today, there are 10 flats of them, because the inhabitants rebuilt and demolished them in various ways. The original front door with a beautiful chandelier and gate is the icing on the cake. The house still has 2 original inhabitants, who have lived in it since 1936.
Na Zábradlí Theater
Visitors to the Na Zábradlí Theater, where Václav Havel was the playwright and playwright, could peek behind the curtain, onto the stage or costume shop. In 2015, it won the Theater of the Year award. There was also a sitting in the presidential bed or a tour of the new glass roof.
Photos can be found in the gallery.