Schwarzenberg Palace - National Gallery

Located inside the beautifully renovated Schwarzenberg Palace, a true Renaissance gem; is the permanent exhibition of Baroque in Bohemia. With three floors covering the Movement, this palace contains priceless Czech resources, knowledge and history. The lower level is dedicated to Baroque sculpture and intricate sketch designs for monumental altarpieces. Among some of the sculptors highlighted are Johann George Brendl, Ferdinand Maximilian Brokof, Matthias Bernhard Braun, Ignaz Franz Platzer and Karl Joseph Hiernle. As you make your way to the first and second floors, notice the meticulously renovated Palace, fine attention to detail was paid during the restoration and it is clear in the overall quality of the building, which will now be enjoyed by generations to come. The main gallery of the first room is a large, wonderful space featuring wooden floors, and a red background for the religious paintings, a color used throughout to provoke emotion and feeling. In a side room you will find a splendid exhibition entitled Norbert Grund and the Painting of Architecture. This room features Norbert Grund and Joseph Platzer, two leading painters of architecture in Bohemia during the Baroque movement; Platzer, famous as a stage designer in Vienna, was later invited to paint the sets for the Estates Theater in Prague. It is clear in the paintings of Joseph Platzer that his famous sculptor father influenced him. Notice the detail of the Neptune Fountain in the painting Ruins with a Fountain; it is simply a sculpture on a piece of canvas. The remainder of the first floor showcases still life paintings, the Hartman landscape painters (The Conquest of Troy is lovely), Petr Brandl and his predecessors, and painters from the final stage of the Baroque, Wenzel Lorenz Reiner, Ignaz Roab and Antonin Kern. The works of these latter artists are displayed in a room complete with a rose motif fresco on the walls. The second floor houses a lecture hall, Artists at the court of Emperor Rudolf II, a cabinet of curiosities, a large collection of Karel Skreta, Michael Leopold Willmann, and Johann Christoph Liska, and wonderful drawings and prints of the 17th and 18th centuries. These include works by Wenceslas Hollar, Karel Skreta, Rembrandt, Salvatore Rosa and Canaletto. The museum offers a guided audio tour, courtyard cafe and handicap accessibility. Exploring Schwarzenberg Palace is a lovely way to spend an educational afternoon in Prague.

Hradčanské Náměstí 2, Praha 1, +420-233-081-713, www.ngprague.cz