The Petschek Palace ( or ''Pečkárna'') is a

neoclassicist Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

building in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. It was built between 1923 and 1929 by the architect Max Spielmann upon a request from the merchant banker

Julius Petschek Julius Petschek (14 March 1856 – 22 January 1932) was an industrialist of Jewish origin in Austria-Hungary and later in Czechoslovakia. Together with his brother Ignaz, he was one of the wealthiest persons of interwar Czechoslovakia. Early life ...

and was originally called "The Bank House Petschek and Co." (''Bankhaus Petschek & Co.'') Despite its historicizing look, the building was then a very modern one, being constructed of

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

and fully air-conditioned. It also had tube post, phone switch-board, printing office, a

paternoster lift A paternoster (, , or ) or paternoster lift is a passenger elevator, consisting of a chain of open compartments, each usually designed for two people, that move slowly in a loop up and down inside a building without stopping. Passengers can s ...

(which is still functioning), and massive

safe A safe (also called a strongbox or coffer) is a secure lockable enclosure used for securing valuable objects against theft or fire. A safe is usually a hollow cuboid or cylinder, with one face being removable or hinged to form a door. The body ...

s in the sublevel floor. The building was sold by the Petschek family before the

occupation of Czechoslovakia Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...

, and the family left the country. It was during the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

years that the place gained its notoriety, as it immediately became the headquarters of

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

for the

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was a partially-annexation, annexed territory of Nazi Germany that was established on 16 March 1939 after the Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945), German occupation of the Czech lands. The protector ...

. It was here where the interrogations and torturing of the

Czech resistance Czechoslovak resistance to the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, German occupation of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia during World War II began after the occupation of the rest of Czechoslovakia and the formation of the protectorate o ...

members took place, as well as the

courts-martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...

established by

Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( , ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a German high-ranking SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He held the rank of SS-. Many historians regard Heydrich ...

which sent most of the prisoners to death or to

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

. Many people died as a result of imprisonment and torture in the building itself. A

memorial plaque A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, bearing text or an image in relief, or both, ...

that commemorates the victims was unveiled on the corner of the building. In 1948 the building was acquired by the then-

Czechoslovak Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) **First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) **Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) **Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) ** Fourth Czechoslovak Repu ...

Ministry of Foreign Trade. Today it is the residence of a part of the

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 *Czech (surnam ...

Ministry of Industry and Trade. In 1989 the building became a National Cultural Monument (''Národní kulturní památka''). The exterior was used as stand-in for the Gemeinschaft Bank (Zurich, Switzerland) in the 2002 film The Bourne Identity.

External links

Radio Prague article in English, March 24, 2010, by Christian Falvey
{{coord, 50, 04, 53, N, 14, 25, 52, E, region:CZ_type:landmark_source:kolossus-cswiki, display=title Office buildings completed in 1929 Palaces in Prague Buildings and structures in Prague National cultural monuments of the Czech Republic 1929 establishments in Czechoslovakia 20th-century architecture in the Czech Republic

See also

External links