Palace Hrzán de Harasov, Baroque palace in Old Town, Czech Republic.
The Palace Hrzán de Harasov stands at Celetná 558/12, with a rear wing on Kamzíková 558/8 in Prague's Old Town. A square three-storey main building, two side wings, a cross wing and a rear wing enclose two courtyards. The seven-axis Celetná facade has a high-Baroque portal flanked by two atlantes carrying a balcony with a Neoclassical railing; the portal leads into the Hrzán passage through both courtyards to Kamzíková.
A Romanesque house stood on the site in the 12th century and was later rebuilt in Gothic and probably Renaissance forms. In 1701 Count Zikmund Valentin Hrzán of Harasov bought it and had it rebuilt in High Baroque style from 1702, probably to plans by Giovanni Battista Alliprandi; work ended around 1723 under the Kinský family. The Vrtbové added a courtyard storey in 1801, the Lobkovicové built classicist galleries in the courtyard from 1839, and in 1911 the interiors and courtyard wings were rebuilt.
The palace bears the name of Count Zikmund Valentin Hrzán of Harasov (1668–1726), who bought it in 1701 and had it rebuilt in high Baroque style. Two memorial plaques on the facade recall that Franz Kafka's parents, Hermann and Julie, ran a textile wholesale business here from 1906 to 1912, followed by František Stadler until 1939.
The building is protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic and managed by the František Stadler-Trier Musik Foundation. Visitors can admire the architecture from the outside and should be aware this is a preserved heritage site.
The cellars hold the ground floor of a 12th-century Romanesque house, with a cross vault from that period; the rest of the cellar is a later Gothic addition. The Hrzán passage runs through both courtyards from Celetná to Kamzíková. In summer 2022 the Tygr v tísni troupe staged The Master and Margarita in several of the palace rooms.
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