Trčkovský palác

Trčka Palace (Czech: Trčkovský palác, also widely known as the Trauttmannsdorff Palace) is a sprawling, much-altered palace complex on Loretánská Street 6 in Hradčany, standing where the old Strahov Gate once guarded the approach to the castle district. The building is now occupied by offices of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic.

Where does the name come from?

The palace takes one of its names from the Trčka family of Lípa, who held the property for part of the seventeenth century — hence "Trčkovský palác." The alternative and equally common name, Trauttmannsdorff Palace, refers to the family that owned it far longer and left the deepest mark on its current appearance.

Who owned the site before the Trčkas?

Burgher houses stood on this spot as far back as the fourteenth century, part of the fortified approach to Hradčany near the Strahov Gate. Local tradition holds that one of these houses once belonged to the master builder Peter Parler, architect of St. Vitus Cathedral, and later to his sons. Ownership passed through the Šlik family in the 1560s, then to the Kinský family, and by the early seventeenth century to the Lobkowicz family. It was around the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that the older burgher houses gave way to a single high-Renaissance palace. The Harrach family held it next, followed by the Trčkas of Lípa, before the Trauttmannsdorff family bought the property in the 1630s and rebuilt it in an early Baroque style around the middle of the century, adding further Baroque alterations in the early 1700s.

How did a noble palace end up as a workshop and a prison?

The Trauttmannsdorffs kept the palace until the early nineteenth century, when it was converted into a classicist apartment building. After 1830 part of the complex became a forced-labor workshop that stayed in operation into the 1940s, and from 1872 another section served as a prison. During the interwar First Czechoslovak Republic, the building briefly housed a student hall of residence named after President Masaryk. The property eventually passed into state hands, and since October 2019 several departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been based there.

What survives of the palace today?

The complex is an irregular cluster of interconnected wings arranged around two courtyards, a service yard, and a garden. A chapel in the western wing is topped by a distinctive pyramidal bell tower, and the basements still preserve Renaissance and early Baroque vaulting beneath the later classicist facade. Because the building now functions as government office space, its interior is not open to casual visitors — but the exterior along Loretánská, between the Loreta shrine and the site of the old Strahov Gate, remains a striking stop on any walk through Hradčany.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you visit Trčka Palace? No — the building currently houses departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is not set up as a tourist attraction.

Why does the palace have two names? "Trčkovský palác" refers to the Trčka family of Lípa, who owned it in the early seventeenth century, while "Trauttmannsdorff Palace" honors the family that held it longest and rebuilt it in the Baroque style.

Who owned the palace over the centuries? Its owners included the Šlik, Kinský, Lobkowicz, Harrach, and Trčka families, followed by the Trauttmannsdorffs, before it eventually became state property.

Where exactly is the palace located? It stands at Loretánská 6 in Hradčany, close to the Loreta shrine and on the walking route toward Strahov Monastery.