Portheimka, Baroque château in Smíchov, Czech Republic
Portheimka is a baroque summer palace in Smíchov featuring a grand marble hall on the first floor adorned with allegorical frescoes and baroque sculptures depicting figures such as Day and Night. The building contains café facilities on the ground level and uses upper floors and additional spaces for rotating exhibitions.
Architect Kilián Ignác Dientzenhofer designed this residence in 1728, blending influences from Italian and Czech building traditions into its baroque structure. The property later changed ownership to the Porges family, becoming an important cultural landmark.
The marble hall served as a performance space where musicians and composers gathered for chamber music evenings during the ownership of the Porges family. This created a vibrant cultural center that reflected the tastes of Prague's aristocratic circles.
The palace welcomes visitors through its ground-floor café and exhibition spaces that occupy the upper levels. The layout is straightforward to navigate, making it easy to move through different rooms and appreciate both the building itself and temporary displays.
The garden was redesigned in the French style, yet it still preserves an original baroque stone water tank dating from the building's construction. This element reveals how the grounds evolved while maintaining pieces of their earlier design.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
