Schebek Palace ( cs, Schebkův palác), otherwise known as "The House of the Angel", is a neo-renaissance building located at Politických vězňů 7, čp. 936/II, in

New Town, Prague The New Town ( cs, Nové Město) is a quarter in the city of Prague in the Czech Republic. New Town is the youngest and largest of the five independent (from the Middle Ages until 1784) towns that today comprise the historic center of modern Prag ...

1. It is protected as a cultural monument in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

History

Prior to the construction of the current Palace, the building lot was occupied by an orphanage. It was sold to two railway magnates, Jan Schebek and František Ringhoffer, in 1868. Jan Schebek then commissioned architect

Vojtěch Ignác Ullmann Vojtěch Ignác Ullmann (23 April 1822 in Prague – 17 September 1897 in Příbram) was a Czech architect working in Revivalism architecture, particularly Renaissance Revival architecture. Life Ullmann studied architecture at the Academy of Fin ...

to design the current building. Ullmann's designs were inspired by renaissance Rome, and the building was constructed between 1870 and 1872. Originally designed to be three stories tall, additional floors have been added since the original construction. The building has four wings, with a rectangular courtyard in its center. Of special note are its ceiling murals by Viktor Barvitius, sculptures by Josef Wagner, and the building's marble staircase which leads to the first floor's main reception rooms.{{cite web, website=historie.cnb.cz, title=Schebkův Palac , url=http://www.historie.cnb.cz/cs/bankovni_budovy_a_pobockova_sit/bankovni-budovy/schebkuv_palac.html The Schebek family owned the building for 18 years before selling it to the Austro-Hungarian Bank, where it became the headquarters of the Prague branch of the bank. Following World War I, the building became the headquarters of The Banking Office of the Ministry of Finance in 1919, which was later transformed into the

National Bank of Czechoslovakia The National Bank of Czechoslovakia ( cs, Národní banka Československá) was the central bank of Czechoslovakia between 1926 and 1939. Between 1939 and 1945, its activities were divided into the National Bank for Bohemia and Moravia in Prague ...

in 1926. The bank owned the building until 1963, when it was taken over by the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (CSAS). Currently the building houses the Center for Economics Research and Graduate Education – Economics Institute (

CERGE-EI The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education – Economics Institute, known as CERGE-EI () is an academic institution in Prague, Czech Republic, specialised in economics. The institute is a partnership between the Center for Economic R ...

), and it is owned by a unit of the

Czech Academy of Sciences The Czech Academy of Sciences (abbr. CAS, cs, Akademie věd České republiky, abbr. AV ČR) was established in 1992 by the Czech National Council as the Czech successor of the former Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and its tradition goes back ...

Gallery

File:Schebkův_palác_05.JPG, Sculpture File:Schebkův_palác_06.JPG, Sculpture File:Schebkův_palác_07.JPG, Courtyard File:Schebkův_palác_08.JPG, Courtyard File:Schebkův_palác_09.JPG, Vestibule File:Schebkův_palác_01.JPG, Vestibule File:Schebkův palác 04.JPG, Entrance to the palace

References

Palaces in Prague Buildings and structures completed in 1872