Queen Anne's Summer Palace (

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

: ''Letohrádek královny Anny''), sometimes called Belvedere, is a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

building located in the Royal Garden of

Prague Castle Prague Castle ( cs, Pražský hrad; ) is a castle complex in Prague 1 Municipality within Prague, Czech Republic, built in the 9th century. It is the official office of the President of the Czech Republic. The castle was a seat of power for kin ...

in the

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. It is considered to be one of the purest Italian

Renaissance architecture Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

located outside of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

History

Ferdinand I commissioned the Summer Palace, built on the eastern edge of the Royal Garden between 1538 and 1560, for his wife Anne Jagiellonica. The garden was founded simultaneously with the Palace. It was initially designed by Italian architect Paolo della Stella, and construction was started by Giovanni Spatio, but both men died before the building was completed, as did Jagiellonica. Upon its completion, the palace was not regularly used until

Rudolf II Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg), Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–160 ...

converted its first floor into an astronomical observatory, and used the palace to accommodate his guests. After Rudolf II's death, the palace was again unused for over thirty years. Afterwards, it served as a military base for

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soldiers in the

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. For over 100 years, an

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laboratory was based on the grounds until governor count Karel Chotek evicted the artillery. After it was abandoned by the military, Bernard Grueber and Petr Nobile organised the renovation of the building, which included the addition of a picture gallery and a

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staircase. Other reconstruction of the building took place in 1860s. In the 1950s, the palace was restored by a Czech architect

Pavel Janák Pavel Janák (12 March 1881 in Karlín – 1 August 1956 in Prague-Dejvice) was a Czech modernist architect, furniture designer, town planner, professor and theoretician. Life Janák studied with Otto Wagner in Vienna between 1906 and 1908, and ...

and it served as an exhibition hall. It became a National Cultural Monument in 1962. Since then, the building has provided space for exhibitions of

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and

applied arts The applied arts are all the arts that apply design and decoration to everyday and essentially practical objects in order to make them aesthetically pleasing."Applied art" in ''The Oxford Dictionary of Art''. Online edition. Oxford Univers ...

Description

The lower part of the palace includes the ground floor with an

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

gallery around the whole building. On the upper floor are residential areas, a dance hall, and a gallery. Above the arcade gallery, there is first floor with a

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

roof, which was not part of della Stella's original design, but added by Bonifác Wohlmut. There is also a singing fountain from 1654 located in front of the Summer Palace.

References

{{Coord, 50.09370, 14.40536, format=dms, type:landmark_region:CZ, display=title Prague Castle Renaissance architecture in the Czech Republic Buildings and structures completed in 1565 Palaces in Prague