Buquoyský palác (Praha 1) Palace

Buquoy Palace, also called Buquoy House, is a classical building in the Old Town of Prague. One facade faces Celetna Street, the other faces Ovocny Market. Since 1964 it has been protected as a historical monument as part of the Karolina complex.

A large building has stood on this site since the Gothic period. Among others, it belonged to Zdenek Kostka z Postupic. Later it was rebuilt in the Renaissance style. At the beginning of the seventeenth century it was owned by Vorshila Benigna, wife of Bohuslav z Michalovic, one of the leaders of the Czech Estate Rebellion, who was executed. The house was confiscated and plundered by the army. In 1627 it was purchased by Countess Marie Magdalena Buquoyova, widow of General Karel Buquoy. Under the Buquoy family it underwent Baroque renovation and the family held it until 1754.

In 1762 Charles University acquired the palace. For them architect Antonin Prachner renovated the building in 1773 and gave it its present classical facade. Professors from the law and medical faculties lived here. From 1882 the Royal Czech Society of Sciences briefly had its headquarters here, a predecessor of today's Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

In the twentieth century the building served university faculties. From 1960 the Faculty of Education and Journalism was based here. In 1968 it was replaced by the Faculty of Social Sciences and Journalism. It was renamed the Faculty of Journalism in 1972 and its focus changed in the spirit of the beginning normalization. Between 1965 and 1971 the interiors together with neighboring buildings were renovated according to a project by Jaroslav Fragner. Another major renovation of the entire Karolina including Buquoy Palace took place between 2020 and 2022.

The palace has four wings and three stories and surrounds an elongated inner courtyard. Original Gothic vaulting has been preserved beneath it and Gothic masonry extends up to the height of the third floor. Rooms from the Renaissance period are located on the ground floor and there is a valuable timber ceiling in one of the rooms on the second floor. The entrance portal on Celetna Street is also from the late Renaissance. The university had a plaque with a Latin inscription inserted into it reading Sibi et Posteris, meaning For ourselves and our descendants, with the date 1773.

The facade facing Celetna Street has six window axes, the wider facade facing Ovocny Market has eight. The stucco decoration and window details are the same on both facades and date from the renovations around 1773.