Vratislavský dům (Praha) Palace

The Wrocław House in Jilska Street 450 / 16 on Prague's Old Town is an important palace building with richly decorated top Baroque facade. Since 1964, the building has been registered as a cultural monument. It is an example of a noble residence that has undergone many building modifications and changes in use over the centuries.

The exact building development of the building is not known in detail. Originally there were two Gothic townspeople 'houses, which were later joined and converted into a palace. A fundamental change of appearance occurred during the period of the high Baroque between 1752 and 1765 when the current street facade was created.

The architectural house stands out for asymmetrical solution of two storey facade, which is divided in ratio one, two and two window axes. There is a triangular shield above the crown ledge in the right side of the building. An important element of the ground floor is a richly decorated portal, supplemented by tilted pilasters with volute headers. Above the entrance there are brackets carrying a balcony with metal railing. Classicist modifications from the 19th century did not significantly affect the appearance of the building. Further modernization took place only at the turn of 1938 and 1939, when the passage was modified and the laboratory set up in the premises above it.

House ownership has often changed over the centuries. The owners were noble families such as Mladotové, Kolovrat-Libštejnští or Morzinové. The house was also owned by an inspector of the Black Manor Jan Kryštof Seifrid. In the middle of the 18th century the object belonged to the Philippines Josefa Vratislav, the wife of Vincent Ignác Vratislav from Mitrovic. Since 1850, the owner was a trader Josef Neumann.

The history of the house is associated with a number of cultural and scientific activities. At the time the house was owned by Filipína Josefa Vratislavová, there was allegedly an amateur theatre. The music composer Carl Maria von Weber, who lived in the house from 1813 to 1816, was an important person associated with this place, when he worked as conductor and artistic director of the Stavov Theatre. After World War II, the premises were used by the research institute for the pharmacology of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and the Slovak Institute was based here until 2016.

The Wrocław House is a valuable sign of the changes of Prague building from Gothic foundations to the highest Baroque representative architecture. The visit to Jilska Street in the historical centre of Prague offers the opportunity to see this monument protected object and to see its rich past in the context of the surrounding construction of Old Town.