Palác Pachtů z Rájova (Anenské náměstí)

The Pachta Palace on Anenské náměstí sits on St. Anne's Square in Prague's Old Town, a short walk from the Vltava riverbank, tucked among the narrow streets of Náprstkova, Stříbrná and Na zábradlí. This Rococo townhouse belonged to the Pachta family, and its main claim to fame is a young Mozart, who spent evenings — and reportedly a few forced hours of solitary composing — within its walls.

How did the palace on St. Anne's Square come to be?

Five separate medieval houses originally stood on the site. Daniel Norbert Pachta z Rájova began buying them up after 1647, and it was his descendant, Hubert Karel Pachta z Rájova, who merged the plots into a single property in 1770. The building itself, in the form it still has today, dates to 1755 and was raised in Rococo style, generally attributed to architect Jan Josef Wirch, though older sources also name Josef Jäger. The result was a four-wing, single-storey palace built around an inner courtyard.

Why is this address linked to Mozart?

The palace owes its fame chiefly to Count Jan Josef Pachta z Rájova, an enthusiastic amateur composer and patron of music who counted Josef Mysliveček among his friends. He turned his Prague residence into a regular venue for musical mornings, drawing leading composers of the day. Mozart and his wife Constanze were repeat guests. One well-worn anecdote from those visits has the count locking the composer in a room for several hours after Mozart kept postponing a promised piece — left alone with pen and paper, Mozart is said to have used the time to write his Six German Dances, K. 509, which he then dedicated to his host. Later on, both Ludwig van Beethoven and Richard Wagner are recorded as having stayed at the palace as well.

What does the palace's architecture look like?

The street façade is deliberately restrained, almost bare of ornament. The architect put all the decorative ambition into the courtyard instead: arcaded façade divisions, a columned portico, open galleries linking the upper floor, and rich stucco work by sculptor Ignác František Platzer. Inside, a monumental two-flight staircase leads up through the building, and a small fountain with a lion-mask spout sits against the courtyard's western wall.

What is the palace used for today?

By the early 20th century the building had fallen into such disrepair that it faced demolition; it survived thanks to the campaigning of the Klub Za starou Prahu (Club for Old Prague), a heritage-preservation society. Today the palace, together with the adjoining Classicist Nový Pachtovský palác (New Pachta Palace, built in 1836), operates as a hotel. Since 1958, part of the building has also housed Divadlo Na zábradlí (Theatre on the Balustrade), one of Prague's best-known stages, closely associated with Václav Havel.

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly is the palace located? On Anenské náměstí in Prague's Old Town, bordered by Náprstkova, Stříbrná, Na zábradlí and Karoliny Světlé streets, close to the Vltava embankment.

Can visitors go inside? The building is privately owned and run as a hotel, so it isn't a museum with set visiting hours — but its courtyard and interior are accessible to hotel guests, and part of the space can be seen when attending a performance at Divadlo Na zábradlí.

What is the Mozart connection, exactly? Count Jan Josef Pachta z Rájova hosted Mozart and his wife here on several occasions, and tradition holds that Mozart composed his Six German Dances, K. 509, in one of the palace rooms, dedicating the work to his host.

Who owned the palace? The Pachta z Rájova family, from the mid-17th century acquisition of the original houses through the 1770 consolidation and for generations afterward.