Schönborn Palace, Baroque palace in Malá Strana, Czech Republic
Schönborn Palace is a baroque residence in Prague's Malá Strana district featuring ornate stonework, multiple floors, and extensive gardens that extend behind the main structure. The building contains numerous rooms and spaces that have been modified over time to serve different functions.
Count Rudolf Colloredo-Waldsee built the palace between 1643 and 1656 on the site of five Renaissance houses destroyed in the Thirty Years' War. In 1715–1718 Hieronymus Colloredo had it remodelled in high Baroque style by architects including Bartolomeo Scotti and possibly Jan Blažej Santini. The Schönborn family bought it in 1794 and gave it its name.
The palace takes its name from the Schönborn counts, who bought it in 1794. From 1910 the family rented out rooms; Franz Kafka stayed for a few months in 1917 and described the tall red-and-gold rooms and the garden seen through the gate in a letter to Felice Bauer.
The building currently serves as the United States Embassy and is not open for general public tours. The exterior facade and gardens can be viewed from the surrounding streets, though interior access is restricted to official business.
Count Rudolf von Colloredo, who lost a leg at the Battle of Lützen, had the flight of steps to the first garden terrace built with a special incline so he could ride into the palace on horseback. The terraced garden was laid out from 1660 on the site of an old vineyard.
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