Kolowrat Palace
(Italian Embassy, Nerudova Street)
Project 1706, construction from 1716 to 1721, new building; investors: Norbert Leopold Count of Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky (project), Norbert Vincenz Count of Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky (implementation)
Project of Kolowrat (later Thunovsky) Palace in Little-Town Ostruhová (today Nerudova) Street was designed by Santini probably in the year 1706.
Nevertheless, history of the building, where Italian Embassy is settled today, goes back to the time much longer-ago. The upper part of the palace near Thunovska Street and Zamecke (Castle) Stairs consists of the former imposing Renaissance Palace of Lords of Hradec. During the Slavata family's possession of the palace, a plan began to be implemented, for extension of the palace to more than double surface and turning the main façade of this enlarged building towards the busy Ostruhova Street. Coincidentally, only the following Kolowrat family managed this. They first committed preparation of plans to the significant Italian architect Domenico Martinelli, working in Vienna.
Nevertheless, history of the building, where Italian Embassy is settled today, goes back to the time much longer-ago. The upper part of the palace near Thunovska Street and Zamecke (Castle) Stairs consists of the former imposing Renaissance Palace of Lords of Hradec. During the Slavata family's possession of the palace, a plan began to be implemented, for extension of the palace to more than double surface and turning the main façade of this enlarged building towards the busy Ostruhova Street. Coincidentally, only the following Kolowrat family managed this. They first committed preparation of plans to the significant Italian architect Domenico Martinelli, working in Vienna.
Construction of the palace itself began earliest in 1716 - as we know, it was in full progress in 1718 and was completed approximately in 1721. Afterwards, time-consuming furnishing and decoration of the individual palace areas took place. Not even the fact that the Kolowrat family went into forced administration interrupted the initiated construction of the building. In addition, thanks to increased finances supervision we know that for example for the year 1718 Santini was paid a very non-standard honorarium 1000 guldens, the following year 1719 even 2000 guldens. It was a sum sufficient for buying a complete burgher house that time, as evidenced by Santini's purchase of the near-by Valkounsky House in 1705 after all.
Exceptionality of the applied architectural design gives reason to this quite astronomic honorarium though. This project can be fully compared for example to the Old-Town Clam-Gallas Palace, built almost at the same time. The whole façade was designed with three shallow buttresses. Santini eliminated considerable inclination of the street using a stately pedestal shaped by means of dimensional axes. Absolutely original cellar windows can attract our attention here.
The central part of the palace is dominated by a sizeable portal, representing a very specific variation of the serliana motif, popular during late-Renaissance and Baroque. Much like in the opposite Morzin Palace, sculptural decoration creates an integral part of the portal with Kolowrat Palace, too. It also comprises figures of heraldic shield bearers, Kolowrat eagles in this case, congenially created by a renowned Baroque sculptor Matthias Bernard Braun. The statute central window of the first floor also becomes a part of the portal here as well, furthermore crowned with the coats of arms of the proprietors, supplemented later in the today's form though, but most probably anticipated or otherwise set from the beginning.
All palace windows are fairly large, especially those in the ground and first floor, traditionally intended for the owner himself. Their framing and especially the sizeable suprafenestras are designed in an absolutely original way. The basic rhythm of the façade, subdivided into three buttresses and a couple of “connecting necks” between them, is artfully complemented, among others, by alternation of the individual types of suprafenestras.
That way central axis of all three buttresses is accentuated and domination of the central buttress over the side buttresses pointed out. Still, there is another way of this emphasis by means of the height, using a fully entablature, shape and dimension of segmental gables as well as structuring the façade surface itself. In this façade, Santini also played inventively with the contrast of emphatic, mass and clear elements such as portal, pedestal, mezzanine, window- and above window-sills and cornice on one side, as well as very delicate and graphical structuring of the façade itself. Not only the ribbing, but all buttresses as well, give impression of thin layers, as though carved out of a cardboard, put on one over the other. Façade of the palace, at first sight simply and clearly created, becomes a very inventive, rich, attractive and artful formal play.
Immensely inventive architectural structuring of the palace façade was certainly supposed to have an adequate response in design of the individual premises. We can still find a spacious three-nave vestibule decorated with statues from the Braun's workshop behind the impressive main portal. Stately Baroque staircase directly took it up, making the main hall, situated in the palace axis and permeating two floors, as well as the follow-up couple of apartment accessible. Interiors of the palace were considerably modified at the end of the 19th century though, and that is why we are not able to identify Santini's interventions today, with the exception of the vestibule.
Nevertheless, the façade itself is enough for assigning this palace among the most significant Baroque palace building projects in Prague as well as in the whole Czech Lands.
