Cibulka Villa

The Cibulka estate is located in the Prague district of Košíře. Originally, it was called Na Cibulkách in plural form. It acquired its present appearance as an Empire-style manor house in the first third of the nineteenth century. It consists of a main building, farm buildings, and stables. Around it stretches a romantically designed forest park of the same name with numerous valuable works by prominent Prague artists from the early nineteenth century.

The earliest mentions of the estate at this site date back to the fourteenth century. The area then belonged to Henry Nazvo, a scribe of the court kitchen of Charles the Fourth. In the sixteenth century, it was acquired by the Cibulka family from Veleslavín, who gave their name to both the estate and the entire surrounding area. The small farmstead included several fields and an orchard. However, the most important feature were the vineyards, for which Košíře was renowned.

During the Thirty Years' War, Cibulka was severely damaged and eventually abandoned. In this state, it was purchased in sixteen eighty-one by university professor Johann Georg von Funcke. He established a new orchard and restored the entire place. Among later owners was Karel Schönfeld, a treasurer of the tax office, or Vojtěchovský, a townsman. He allowed gatherings of Protestants persecuted by the Jesuits to take place there. Further damage came during the War of Austrian Succession, when Bavarian, Saxon, and French troops passed through the region. In seventeen fifty-eight, the estate was purchased by Filip Krakovský Kolovrat for the office of the Prague burgrave.

A turning point came in eighteen seventeen. For one hundred and twelve thousand guilders, Leopold Leonhard Thun-Hohenstein, the last prince-bishop of Passau and a generous patron of the arts, purchased Cibulka. Due to the Napoleonic Wars, he lost his princely title, but remained as a church leader in the divided Passau principality. He refused to remain in Passau under these conditions and thus came into conflict with the Vatican. He came from Děčín, but in his final years decided to spend his time in Prague, right here at Cibulka.

Thun radically rebuilt the entire complex. The main two-storey building on two axes was enlarged and supplemented with stables and farm buildings. On the main courtyard stood an Empire-style fountain, small romantic structures, and stone dovecotes with kennels. The most beautiful part of the bishop's private gardens was called the Secret Garden. Throughout the gardens and the entire complex, a number of stone and architectural ornaments were created: the Tuscan column, Práchner's stele, figures of Chinese men which no longer remain, pavilions, small pools, and terraces. The manor house was complemented by a thoughtfully designed English park and forest park, which formed a unified whole with it.

After Thun's death, Cibulka caught fire, began to deteriorate, and fell into obscurity. However, its name lives on. It is borne by the forest park and a colony of family houses on the southern Košíře slope around the winding street V Cibulkách. It is also borne by the railway station Praha-Cibulka, established in nineteen twenty-nine as Cibulka kolonie. Between eighteen seventy-two and nineteen thirty-eight, it was also the name of today's station Praha-Stodůlky.