Golz-Kinsky Palace (Palác Kinskych)

Golz-Kinsky Palace (Palác Kinskych) (4)

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One of the most impressive buildings of the Old Town is the Golz-Kinsky Palace. The rococo-style building has been witness and on occasions the setting for some major events in the history of Prague. It is one of the most outstanding palaces in the Old Town Square.

A stroll around the square will enable you to take in the structure of this beautiful palace which stands on its east side, along with a Renaissance-style house. Its pediments, pilasters and columns are in full harmony with the monumental nature of the other buildings around.

The Golz-Kinsky Palace was originally built between 1755 and 1765 for Count Golz. The design is down to Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer along with the façade, also in rococo style with neat stucco in white and pink. The building is crowned by statues representing the four elements, the work of Ignaz Platzer. The history of this building, however, dates back to an earlier time, since it stands on old Roman houses, of which the basement part has been conserved.

After some years, the palace belonged to the imperial diplomat Stefan Kinsky, whose surname has come to form part of the name of the building. Almost two centuries later, in 1948, the palace balcony would be the main stage for a critical moment, when the Communist leader Klement Gottwald addressed the masses congregated there as a result of a crisis that would develop into a coup d’état. Here the soviet-style Communist state was declared.

For years the Golz-Kinsky Palace was the home to the Imperial Institute of the German Language, and was thus considered an intellectual birthplace of some of the most important writers in this language, such as Franz Kafka.

Today it houses the graphic art collection of the National Gallery, with works that range from the Middle Ages until our own times.

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