Rohan Palace (Prague)

Rohan Palace is a classicist town palace in Prague's Malá Strana district, standing where Karmelitská and Harantova streets meet Maltézské náměstí. The building carries the name of the French Rohan family, who owned it for more than a century, but its story begins much earlier, in the second half of the 16th century.

How did the palace on Malá Strana come together?

The palace grew out of several separate burgher houses standing side by side on one plot. Around 1571, the German architect and master builder Bonifác Wohlmut joined three of them into a single Renaissance structure. A fourth house was added decades later, in 1596, when it was bought by Jeremiáš Tirol — for a long time the whole complex was known as the Tirol House after him. One wing, the so-called Otto House facing Maltézské náměstí, even held a theatre hall where German-language operas were performed between 1700 and 1713, giving Malá Strana its own musical stage long before Prague's grand opera houses existed.

Where does the name Rohan come from?

For decades the individual parts of the complex were rebuilt separately, including in the Baroque period, and remained loosely connected rather than unified. That changed at the end of the 18th century, when the property passed to the Černín family of Chudenice. Count Vojtěch Černín bought out the remaining shares between 1787 and 1792, and in 1796 the architect Josef Zobel merged all the buildings into a single classicist whole — the point at which the palace took on much of the compact shape still visible today. Ownership changed again in 1816, when the palace was bought by Prince Karel Alain Rohan-Guémenée, Duke of Bouillon and Montbazon, and it has borne the Rohan name ever since. Between 1838 and 1841 the façade was reworked in a late classicist style close to what visitors see now. The Rohan family kept the palace for 129 years.

What is inside the palace today?

The Rohan family's property was confiscated after the Second World War, in 1945, and the building passed into state ownership. It has functioned as a government seat ever since, currently housing the ministry responsible for education, youth and sport. Because of this role, Rohan Palace is not a museum-style attraction open to the public, but its ornate classicist façade remains one of the recognisable landmarks on a walk through historic Malá Strana, right next to Maltézské náměstí and the path down to Kampa Island.

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly is Rohan Palace located? The palace stands in Prague's Malá Strana district, on Karmelitská street facing Maltézské náměstí, right in the heart of the historic quarter, a short walk from Charles Bridge.

Can visitors go inside the palace? The building serves as a government ministry, so its interior is not open to tourists the way palace-museums are. Its façade, however, can be admired from the surrounding streets.

What other names has the building had? Over the centuries it was also known as the Tirol House, the Otto House and the Černín Palace, names tied to the families and owners who held or rebuilt it before Rohan became the lasting name in the 19th century.

What else is worth seeing nearby? Just steps away lie Maltézské náměstí with the Church of Our Lady beneath the Chain, and the route toward Kampa Island and Charles Bridge, making the palace a natural stop on a Malá Strana walking route.