Grand Priory Palace

The Grand Priory Palace in Prague's Lesser Town is the seat of the Grand Priory of Bohemia. It stands on the site of the commandery of the Knights of St. John, founded here in the second half of the 12th century beside the Church of Our Lady beneath the Chain; the present palace still follows the ground plan of its three-winged Romanesque hospital.

The Baroque building

The decision to rebuild was taken by Grand Prior Karl Leopold Count Herberstein. The plans were drawn up by the Milanese builder Giuseppe Bartolomeo Scotti, and the palace was built in 1726–1727 and completed under Grand Prior Gundaker Poppo Count Dietrichstein: a single-storey, four-winged residence with dormers and oval windows.

Both portals, on the south and west sides, come from the workshop of Matthias Bernhard Braun and bear the arms of Grand Prior Dietrichstein. The same workshop decorated the monumental three-flight staircase with putti bearing lights, one of the finest in the Czech lands. The interiors retain stucco ceilings, inlaid doors, parquet floors, marble fireplaces and tiled stoves from the Dietrichstein manufactory. At the corner on Velkopřevorské náměstí stands a 190 cm guard stone, probably the largest in Prague.

Around 1730 Grand Prior Dietrichstein ordered six tapestries from the Brussels workshop of Peter van den Hecke for the main hall, now called the Knights' Hall. They were taken away during the Nazi occupation; four were found after the war and are today on permanent loan from the Grand Priory of Bohemia at the seat of the Order in Rome.

In the 20th century

After the land reform the Order let the palace in 1919–1931 to the legation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia). During the occupation the property was transferred to the German Reich, and in 1949 the Communists seized the palace; from 1950 it housed the Music Museum of the National Museum. In 1984 scenes of Miloš Forman's film Amadeus were shot here.

Under Act No. 338/1991 the palace was returned to the Order; the museum moved out in 2003. In the floods of August 2002 water filled the cellars and the ground floor. In 2019–2022 the roof structure, attacked by dry rot, was restored and re-roofed.

Today

The palace serves the Order and hosts public lectures and conferences. Its garden lies behind the so-called Lennon Wall. The state rooms can be hired; details and contacts for organisers are on the palace's website www.velkoprevorskypalac.eu.

Source: Milan M. Buben, Chrám Panny Marie pod řetězem a Velkopřevorský palác. Dějiny a průvodce (The Church of Our Lady beneath the Chain and the Grand Priory Palace: History and Guide), Prague 2026.