The Lobkowicz-Palace in Prague is showing a unique collection of aristocratic culture

InterContinental Life

One of the most impressive buildings in the Czech capital, the Lobkowicz Palace.
© public domain

The princes and the executioner’s sword

The Lobkowicz Palace in Prague is home to a collection which is unique anywhere in Europe, spanning four centuries of aristocratic culture.

Today, when politicians claim they have to work hard, it is all relative. These days, the worst that can happen to unpopular representatives of the public interests is that they will be voted out. By contrast, the people in the early modern era thought up a considerably more drastic way of demonstrating their anger. It was a punishment that happened so often that historians coined a word for it: “defenestration” which literally means “the act of throwing out of a window”. This was the fate which befell three Prague governors for the Kaiser’s Catholic Majesty on 16th May 1618, when they were unceremoniously defenestrated from Prague Castle by 200 Protestant noblemen. Remarkably, all three survived the infamous ‘Defenestration of Prague’ and the fall from 17 metres and were able, despite their injuries, to flee to a neighbouring palace, which is now one of the most impressive buildings in the Czech capital, the Lobkowicz Palace.

Back then, it was home to one of the most important families in the Bohemian aristocracy: princes of the Holy Roman Emperor and at the same time Senior Chancellor to the Crown in Bohemia. The family tree of the Lobkowicz dynasty goes all the way back to the 15th century when, in 1409, an ancestor bought the castle of the same name to the north of Prague, plus all the land that went with it, and thus gave them their family name. It was no coincidence that the three defenestrated governors fled to the Lobkowicz palace, as the family was loyal to the Catholic Church.

The Lobkowicz Palace, the family residence, was built in the mid-16th century and came into their possession in early 1609 by virtue of a marriage. Since then, it has acquired works of art, exquisite furniture, a musical instrument crafted by a master hand, a valuable sabre and a rare hunting rifle – all adding up to just part of collection of aristocratic culture which is unique anywhere in the world. Examples include two paintings by Canaletto, one by Pieter Breughel the Elder and a collection of firearms which is unrivalled anywhere in Europe. To list all the treasures would take pages. Among other things is the sword of executioner Johannes Mydlar, with which he single-handedly beheaded 27 Protestant Bohemian aristocrats after their troops had been annihilated by the Catholic League Army at the Battle of the White Mountain. Those executed included gentlemen once responsible for throwing the governors out of the window.

The Lobkowicz family and their palace survived many perils, until the Nazis came along and confiscated the palace and all its treasures. They were driven out in 1945, but the Communists soon requisitioned the building and all it represented. But the Lobkowicz family did not get where they were by letting things like that happen. They demanded that it be returned to them. Finally, in 2002, came victory for them and for justice: the palace reverted to family ownership. After carefully restoring the building, the family opened its “Royal Collection” to the public for the first time five years later. Since then, the palace has become a Mecca for lovers of fine art, lifestyle and history.

One final tip to avoid confusion: there are two Lobkowicz palaces in Prague. The one we are talking about is part of Prague Castle. The second is around 200 metres away at Vlašská No. 19. This magnificent Baroque palace was once home to the German embassy which also became famous, if a little later than the other one, in 1989 – and not for its windows this time, but for its balcony. On 30th September 1989, then German foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher stepped out onto the balcony of the Lobkowicz Palace. In the garden below were some 6,000 GDR citizens who had fled and were waiting desperately to hear whether they could travel back to Germany. And then, on this balcony, Genscher spoke the words that secured his name in the history books: “We have come to you to tell you that today, your departure ...”