Dům U Obrazu Panny Marie House

Dům U Obrazu Panny Marie is a Renaissance monument from before 1617. It is located on the Malá Strana in Prague 1 at the address Na Kampa 514 / 9. The building is a remarkable decorative shield with a Marian painting and a balcony, which makes up a typical view from the Charles Bridge on Kamp. Since 1964, the house has been registered as a cultural monument.

The building was built before 1617. During the Swedish siege of Prague in 1648, the waterfront near the Charles Bridge was ravaged, but this house was partially preserved. In 1657 it was acquired by Jan Karel and his wife Dorota, who subsequently sold it in 1659 to Jan Jiří Karvinski of Karviné.

Architecturally, it is a three-storey object with a closed quadruple layout on a flattering plot. Its three late classicist facades define the northern tip of the block limited by Charles Bridge, the coast of Vltava, the Liechtenstein Palace and the square of Na Kampa. The original Renaissance building was restored and extended to the west wing in 1671- 1730. Another reconstruction and superstructure took place in the third quarter of the 18th century according to the design of Josef Zobel. In the years 1845 and 1846, the lawyer František Pelzl added a northeast corner and built a staircase. The final late classical form of the house was obtained thanks to the builder Vojtěch Guder.

The facade towards the Charles Bridge ends with a triangular shield with a balcony. He has an ornamental railing with a Marian monogram. Above the entrance to the balcony from the soil there is a Marian painting in the stucco frame, on whose sides are hung hand-held rolls. The facade facing the river represents the younger part of the house, which is evident from different window heights. On the eastern facade there are three signs showing the water level in the years 1784, 1890 and 2002. After the 2002 flood, the house had to be reconstructed.

There are various home signs associated with the house; For the painting (or at the column) of the Virgin Mary is documented since 1653 and U rollers since 1891. Among the famous stories are the rescue of the image from the stormy waves of the Vltava flood in 1784, which was placed by the owner František Pelzl in the shield. The warriors at the painting resemble the legend of the launderette Mary, who in the laundry room saved their hands from the tonsils after calling her patron. Another legend speaks of the lonely girl Petruska, who lived in the attic and whose soul is supposedly lit in eternal light.

The building was housed by the brothers Petr, Čenek and Karel Maixner in 1865-1870. In the years 1903- 1934 there lived a painter and illustrator Adolf Kašpar, which resembles a commemorative plate from 1956 on the first floor of the eastern facade. Since 1903, the landlord Josef Rousek lived here with his family, who operated a boat rental and was famous for saving the drowning in Vltava. There were originally three lanterns on the balcony. Two of them had to be removed in 1961 to visit Nikita Khrushchev in order to place the battalions. Both missing lamps were found after years and reinstalled in 2018.

Dům U Obrazu Panny Marie represents a valuable example of layered Prague architecture from Renaissance to Classicism. It's a place where historical documents intersect with traditional Prague legends. The visit to this building offers insight into the history of the Small Party and its relationship with the River Vltava.