Prague City Gallery – Troja Château (Zámek Troja)

Václav Vojtěch, count of Šternberk, had his summer seat built here from 1679 on. He wanted to acquire a noble title, which he did. The Troja Castle is one of the most significant examples of the 17^th century Bohemian castle Baroque style. Count Šternberk invited excellent European artists to work on the construction and the decoration. The construction was projected by Giovanni Domenico Orsi, who was soon replaced by Jean Baptiste Mathey, who changed the original concept to a very regular layout with the main hall in the middle. The main hall was connected with the garden via a monumental two-flight garden staircase, which was decorated with sculptures of Jiří and Pavel Hermann from Dresden in 1685. Around 1705, they were joined by Jan Brokoff. The staircase is decorated with sculptures of Antique gods and goddesses, depicting their fight with the Titans, as the old-Greek Ilias tells. This probably also gave rise to the name Troja, which then spread on the entire district. The main hall’s ceiling and walls are covered by frescoes with the theme of Apotheosis victory over Turks near Vienna, and also celebrating the Habsburgs. The frescoes were painted by Dutch painters Abraham and Izak Godin. The adjoining rooms were decorated by Italian painter Francisco Marchetti and his son Giovanni with frescoes with Antique mythology themes, and celebrating the castle’s builders. There are 4,000 m2 of paintings in the castle altogether, of which 1,400 m2 are in the main hall, which is also used for concerts. The expositions of the Gallery of the Capital City of Prague are placed here.

The castle is very sensitively inserted in the landscape and it is surrounded by an extensive French garden decorated with terracotta vases, stucco prospects and orangeries with busts of imperators.