Lobkowicz Palace @ Prague Castle

One of the most exquisite examples of marquetry in The Lobkowicz Collections is that found on the games box pictured below. This remarkable object from the decorative arts collection was used for playing both checkers and backgammon.

The former was played on the box’s top, which opens to reveal an interior backgammon board. Appreciated not only for its beauty and the diverting activity for which it allowed, this piece would also have been valued for its size, which permits it to be easily transported.

The popularity of the games box and the board game reached their peak in the Renaissance and Baroque periods, when sovereigns, noblemen and members of the wealthy merchant classes would commission such pieces at often very elevated prices. Designed according to the tastes of the commissioning client, the boards were invariably inlaid with ivory or mother of pearl, and they were frequently gilded or otherwise elaborately decorated.

The Collections games box dates to around 1670 and is a testament to the extraordinary skill and craftsmanship of the artisans who created it. It is made from walnut wood, and both the interior and the exterior of the box are inlaid with the woods of spice, box, ash and lime. On the exterior, this inlay work is fashioned into different species of insects, including beetles, dragonflies, moths and caterpillars; the interior is embellished with an alternating pattern of tulips, poppies and wildflowers, such as cornflower and dandelion. The skill with which the box was crafted indicates that it was likely made in Cheb (Bohemia), which in the late 17th century was a center of furniture manufacturing and artistic woodwork production.

The canvas is removed from its frame and placed on easels to be professionally photographed

Collections Dir. Veronika Wolf and Conservator Martin Martan review a condition report prior to inspecting the painting

Ms. Wolf and Mr. Martan with Chief Curator John Somerville examine a specific point on the canvas under light

The painting is carefully removed from the wall and placed facedown on work tables for review of its reverse side

A backboard is affixed to the frame to protect the painting during transportation

The canvas is carefully wrapped in a protective covering for transportation to London

Handlers place the painting in a double crate custom-designed with the canvas’ precise measurements

The back of the interior crate is fitted into place. It will be secured with screws, as will the back of the exterior crate

Among the many evolutions in the artistic world during the Renaissance was the development of new ways of incorporating natural materials into the decorative arts. One such innovation was the “Florentine mosaic”, or pietra dura, an inlay technique that uses finely cut minerals and semi-precious stones to create colorful mosaics. A fine example of this art form can be seen in the Lobkowicz-Pernštejn house altar, which Rudolf II gave to Zdeněk Vojtěch, 1st Prince Lobkowicz (1568–1628) – then the High Chancellor of Bohemia – and Polyxena Pernštejn on the occasion of their marriage in 1603.

The Lobkowicz-Pernštejn altar was almost certainly made in the workshop of Florentine artist Giovanni Castrucci, who played an important role in the artistic court of Rudolf II. Measuring just over half a meter high, a size that allowed for its portability, the altar was fashioned from ebony and embellished with a kaleidoscope of minerals, including amethyst, chalcedony and jasper. The right third of the central mosaic, with its tranquil scene of a countryside and a church tower, lies in stark contrast to the menacing dragon emerging from a cave on the left. At the heart of this image, Saint Margaret of Antioch, her hands clasped in prayer, kneels before a cross encircled by a crown of thorns and canopied by the Latin phrase “in hoc signo vinces", meaning “in this sign you will conquer". Three further smaller images created using the pietra dura technique can be seen on the altar’s base. These depict an imaginary town (center) and the Lobkowicz and Pernštejn coats of arms (left and right, respectively). The Lobkowicz arms were clearly later adapted to incorporate the chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece, which the 1st Prince was awarded some twenty years after his marriage.

The decorative features of the altar are not limited to inlay work alone. The architectural details of this important example of the period’s prevailing Mannerist style are also significant: scrolled modillions and vases enhance the base, while two columns stand on either side of the central image, and a two-tiered gable tops the superior part. A similar house altar can be found in the treasury of the Kremsmünster Abbey in Upper Austria. Likely created by Ottavio Miseroni, another great artist in the court of Rudolph II, the central scene shows a mosaic of Saint Jerome.

Nelahozeves Castle was built for Florian Griesbeck von Griesbach (1504-1588), a highly educated Tyrolean aristocrat and private secretary and close adviser to Emperor Ferdinand I. Florian commissioned royal master builder Bonifaz Wolmut to create the residence in the Italianate Northern Mannerist style.

Florian's ambitious new residence, which took over 60 years to build, was planned as a two-story building with four wings and four corner pavilions, intended to look like spur-shaped bastions. When Florian died in 1588, his son Blažej inherited the castle, and construction continued until the beginning of the 17th century. In 1623, the family's financial difficulties forced Florian's granddaughter to sell the encumbered estate to Polyxena, 1st Princess Lobkowicz (1566-1642).

During the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), the Castle was ransacked several times. Following the war, Polyxena's son, Václav Eusebius, 2nd Prince Lobkowicz (1609-1677), High Chancellor of the Czech Kingdom, reconstructed the building and used it for the administration and management of his numerous estates. Despite its great beauty and noble character, Nelahozeves Castle never served as the family's principal residence, unlike the Lobkowicz Palace in Vienna, and later Roudnice Castle.

Significant Architectural Features

Nelahozeves is an example of the castello fortezza, a chateau-like home with faux architectural defenses such as decorative bastions and a moat-less entry bridge. This style, deemed very modern in the mid-16th century, is preserved today in the Castle's original and authentic appearance thanks to the limited number of structural changes made throughout the centuries.

Also preserved, and recently restored, are the elaborate sgraffito decorations covering the north wing of the building. These works, which depict scenes from ancient mythology and the Old Testament, are one of the building's most impressive features.

Of the castle interiors, the most noteworthy are the south-facing Arcade Hall and the Knight's Hall. The latter of these is a well-preserved Renaissance room dating back to 1564, with wall frescoes depicting larger-than-life military figures and ceiling decorations illustrating Titus Livius' interpretations of five Roman virtues. The room features a lunette vault with a center panel of nine sections, each boasting original stucco reliefs of delicate elongated figures. The nine sections are separated by elaborate stucco fruit festoons. The room is also dominated by a huge Renaissance stone fireplace.

Recent History

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Princess Wilhelmina Lobkowicz (1863-1945), daughter of Moric, 9th Prince Lobkowicz (1831-1903), sponsored and maintained at the Castle a religious institution for unmarried and widowed noblewomen, The Order of the Sisters of God's Love. Wilhemina, who lies buried in the village cemetery, was the last Lobkowicz to live at the Castle.

The Castle was confiscated by the Communist government in 1948. During the late 1970s and 1980s, the Castle was used by the Czech Regional Gallery to exhibit modern socialist art, as well as some of the Lobkowicz family's paintings.

We are delighted to announce that two important artworks – the Reliquary Bust of a Female Saint from Jezeří and the Processional Cross – have returned to the permanent exhibition at the Lobkowicz Palace in the Prague Castle.

These extraordinary works were previously on loan to the exhibition “Open the Gates of Paradise. The Benedictines in the Heart of Europe 800–1300” at the Waldstein Riding School in Prague. This unique display of medieval art, which explored the rich spiritual and artistic culture of the Benedictine Order in Central Europe, was attended by nearly 30,000 visitors.

The Reliquary Bust of a Female Saint from Jezeří, dating to 1330–1350, can now be seen again at the Lobkowicz Palace. It was probably part of the St. George's Basilica treasure at Prague Castle. In 1938, it was unexpectedly discovered by Czech art historian V. V. Štech among theatrical props at Jezeří, a Lobkowicz Castle.

The 12th century Processional Cross, a rare piece of Romanesque art decorated in crystal gems and gilded copper, was probably included in the Prague bishops’ treasury and later became part of The Lobkowicz Collections.

Magnificently perched on a steep cliff above the Elbe River and overlooking the city of Ustí nad Labem, Střekov Castle is one of the most visited cultural monuments in North Bohemia. Now a romantic ruin, it still retains a central hall, other rooms and a cylindrical Gothic tower. Its dramatic silhouette can be seen from kilometers away, as well as from the trains running between Prague and Dresden that pass directly along the opposite bank.

Historical Origins

The fortress-like Střekov Castle was built in 1316 for John of Luxemburg by his royal architect and engineer, Pešik of Veitmile. It originally guarded the important trade route to Germany.

After 1479, the family Glacs´of Starý Dvůr acquired the Castle, repaired the fortifications and built two houses next to the smaller tower and eastern wall. The castle continued to change hands until 1563, when it was purchased by Václav of Lobkowicz. It was inherited in 1599 by Adam Havel of Lobkowicz, from whom it passed in 1615 to the Roudnice branch of the Lobkowicz family.

The Castle suffered severe damage during the Thirty Years' War under successive Imperial, Saxon and Swedish occupations because of its strategic importance. During the Seven Years' War the castle was again alternately besieged and captured by Austrian and Prussian armies, resulting in further destruction. Stabilization repairs were also carried out.

Significant Architectural Features

The castle area is divided into two parts, which are connected by an arched bridge that spans a natural moat. Still remaining from the earliest period of construction are an irregular oblong section of the palace, its connecting monumental round tower and a smaller tower that guarded the castle entrance. Semi-round bastions fortify the structure.

A single castle with two connected sections was an unusual architectural style for the period in which Střekov Castle was built. The structure’s bastions are also a rare feature. Inspired by French examples, Střekov Castle’s bastions are perhaps the first example of this type of defensive architecture in Bohemia.

Recent History

In the 19th century, a renewed interest in old ruins set in romantic natural settings motivated poets, painters and musicians to visit Střekov Castle. Goethe declared the view from the property’s perch above the Elbe to be the most beautiful in Central Europe. Richard Wagner’s sojourn in the Castle is said to have inspired him to write his opera Tannhäuser.

Historical Origins

In the 12th century, on the site where Roudnice Castle now sits, a fortress-style castle was built by the powerful archbishops of Prague. This castle served as a popular summer residence for Prague's bishops and archbishops and is said to be the place where Jan Hus was ordained a priest.

Gothic additions and alterations were made to the original Romanesque structure in the 14th and 15th centuries. The castle changed from religious to secular hands and eventually came into the Lobkowicz family in 1603, when Zdeněk Vojtěch, 1st Prince Lobkowicz (1568-1628) married then-owner of the castle, Polyxena Pernštejn (1566-1642).

In 1652, their son Václav Eusebius, 2nd Prince Lobkowicz (1609-1677) commissioned Italian architects Francesco Caratti and later Antonio della Porta to demolish most of the original structure and create in its place a masterpiece of the high baroque style. This grand 200-room residence included massive twin entry staircases, a stately clock tower, an elaborately decorated chapel and an elegant theater. Other outbuildings, such as the riding stables and the family administrative building, were subsequently developed on the castle grounds. Václav Eusebius’s major reconstruction also included the creation of magnificent formal gardens in the castle courtyard and on the surrounding grounds.

When construction of Roudnice Castle was completed, the rooms were filled with the finest works from the family's ever-expanding art collections. These included paintings by many of the greatest European artists, precious religious objects, specialized weaponry, and fine porcelain and decorative arts from Europe and the Far East. Additionally, the gardens and estate holdings flourished and the many rooms devoted to the library, which became known as the Roudnice Lobkowicz Library, were filled with important books, manuscripts and The Archive.

The collections at the Castle also included musical instruments and autograph manuscripts by many of the greatest composers of the 18th and 19th century, including Glück, Mozart, and particularly Beethoven, who dedicated his 3rd (Eroica), 5th and 6th symphonies to his great patron Joseph František Maximilian, 7th Prince Lobkowicz (1772-1816). Many of these compositions were performed by the house orchestra in the Roudnice Castle theater.

Significant Architectural Features

Preserved from the original Romanesque castle, below the northwest terrace of the present-day structure, is a section of peripheral wall, fortified by several small towers. Also preserved from this period and accessible from the present-day courtyard are a large vaulted hall and several smaller vaulted rooms, one of which contains a base of a 12th-century column.

Significant features from the baroque period include the chapel, which boasts magnificent frescoes by Giacomo Tencalla (1644-1692).

Many rooms also have unique architectural features, including 18th and 19th century ceramic stoves, ceilings decorated with frescoes and stucco work, and large balconies.

Recent History

With the onset of World War II, the Lobkowicz family was forced to flee Roudnice Castle and the country. Maximilian Lobkowicz (1888-1967), the Ambassador of Czechoslovakia to Great Britain, and his British wife, Gillian Somerville, lived in exile in London. Nazi troops occupied the Castle and confiscated its collections, using the building as an SS youth training camp. The library's specially-designed cabinetry was destroyed and its rooms were turned into communal latrines. In the final days of the war, bombs fell and severely damaged the theater in the castle's west wing.

After the war, Maximilian returned home and repairs to the damaged castle were initiated. Not long after, when the Communist government seized power in 1948, all the Lobkowicz properties and possessions were confiscated for a second time. The contents of the collections were evacuated from Roudnice Castle and scattered across the country. The greatest treasures were absorbed by the national libraries and museums.

For the next five decades, Roudnice Castle was used as a military music school and for military administrative offices. In 1965, the Castle Riding Hall became home to the Central Bohemian Gallery of Modern Art, which remains there to this day. The Gallery has an excellent reputation for presenting high quality exhibitions and is an attractive destination for local visitors and tourists alike.

The Lobkowiczes were able to trace and reclaim much of their property, including Roudnice Castle, thanks to the enlightened restitution laws signed into effect by President Václav Havel. After restitution, the family continued to rent the Castle to the military music school, all the while using rental and other income to initiate improvements – such as restoring the iconic bell tower and replacing the roof. Funding for the military music school was recently terminated by the government, and the school was officially closed at the end of 2008.

One of the most important works belonging to the Music Archive of The Lobkowicz Collection Library is without question an early manuscript of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Ezio of 1750. A classic example of Neapolitan opera seria, the genre that ruled the stage for much of the 18th century and that Gluck – long one of the style’s foremost representatives – famously later reformed,Ezio is set to the text of Pietro Metastasio (1698–1782), the most renowned librettist of the High Baroque.

The plot of Baroque operas is often complex, full of amorous intrigue and obstacles portrayed against a background story in which historical facts are commonly adjusted; in opera seria, for example, tragic endings are often rewritten in favor of a so-called lieto fine (or happy ending), in which the virtue and the nobility of the characters prevail, triumphing over vice and iniquity. InEzio, Gluck is faithful to another operatic convention: that of adhering to a close association between text and music. This relationship is exemplified in the first act’s aria “Se tu la reggi al volo” (If You Rise to Fly), in which ascending and descending coloratura illustrate the flight and the bravery of Valentiniano. A further example is found in the aria sung by Fulvia, the object of Valentiniano’s affection: in “Fin che un Zeffiro soave” (While the Sweet Zephyr), the gentle, rolling violin notes depict an equally gentle breeze conveying a ship along its sea path.

Every year, in collaboration with Czech and International experts in the field of conservation, The Lobkowicz Collections, o.p.s. identifies priority projects for The Collections. The eighteen paintings known as the Regimental Officers portraits are the next such project.

Significance:

In 1623, Václav Eusebius, 2nd Prince Lobkowicz (1609–1677), founded the Lobkowicz Regiment, which formed an integral part of the Imperial Habsburg forces. The Lobkowicz Collections include eighteen portraits of officers that served in this regiment under the command of Field Marshall Prince George Christian Lobkowicz (1686–1753/5). These paintings are traditionally attributed to Antonio Lucini, who between 1702 and 1733 is known to have been working in Milan, where the Field Marshall was commander-in-chief of the Habsburg army in Italy.

Current Condition:

All eighteen portraits require cleaning and expert conservation. Many of the canvases have become thin over time and suffered extensive paint loss as a result. The majority will need lining, consolidation and retouching of the paint losses associated with damage sustained during the Nazi and Communist period.

Project Details:

Painting details: oil on canvas, 96 x 74 cm (37.8 x 29.1 in)

Task: cleaning, repair and conservation of the 18 paintings

Total cost: 671.000 CZK / 27.000 EUR / 35,000 USD

Cost per painting: 37.300 CZK / 1.500 EUR / 1,950 USD

Time frame: 6 months

Wenceslaus Hollar (1607–1677) was a famous etcher and draftsman of Bohemian origin. Born in Prague, he left the city in the 1620s and was then active in Germany. In 1637, he left for England with his new employer, the English nobleman Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel (1585–1646).

He settled in London, where he would live and work for the greater part of his life, with the notable exception of the period from 1644 to 1652, when he resided in Antwerp. Hollar left behind some 2,700 plates. He is probably best known for his architectural etchings and views of towns, particularly London, which he drew both before and after the Great Fire in 1666. Also famous are his portraits, or captures, of muffs, shells and butterflies.

One of Hollar’s most famous etchings is a picture of the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp, dated 1649. Construction on what became the largest Gothic church in the Netherlands ended in 1521, and the south tower was left unfinished, reaching only the height depicted in the etching. The work’s lively figural decoration, so typical of Hollar’s work, includes a procession towards the entrance of the cathedral, a horse-drawn coach, and passersby and dogs in a square in front of the church. A later state of the plate was used in the famous illustrated work entitled Castella et praetoria nobilium Brabantiae, which was first published in Antwerp in 1694 by the Flemish historiographer Jacob le Roy (1633–1719).

The work consists of more than 200 plates by various engravers, showing architectural monuments of the Duchy of Brabant and introducing residences of the nobility and church monuments. The title page of the work documents the high reputation of Hollar’s work, as it lists his name first among the cooperating artists even though the book contains only a very small number of his etchings.

Hollar’s picture of the Antwerp cathedral is currently on display at Lobkowicz Palace as part of The Lobkowicz Library exhibition Architecture in the Work of Peter Paul Rubens and Václav Hollar, which runs through 30 May 2013.

The Lobkowicz Collections contains a group of twenty six 18th-century engravings of views of modern and ancient Rome created by the celebrated draftsman, typographical artist, printmaker, archaeologist and architect, Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778).

Throughout his lifetime, the Piranesi created numerous prints depicting the Eternal City; these were widely collected by gentlemen on the Grand tour. The group on permanent display in the Piranesi Room at the Lobkowicz Palace Museum in Prague was acquired by Ferdinand Joseph, 8th Prince Lobkowicz (1797-1868), while in Italy in 1820.

Although the Piranesi Room prints are on public view and appear to be in very good condition, they are in critical need of conservation work. The prints suffer from so-called "acid burn" due to the acidity in the paper on which they were mounted. Left untreated, the papers' acids will continue to migrate into the prints and damage the paper fibers of the prints themselves.  In order to prevent deterioration of these fragile works, the prints must have their backings removed and be remounted onto acid-free paper. During the conservation process, light restoration work, such as the removal of marks or blemishes, must also be performed.  

The Lobkowicz Collections o.p.s. is currently seeking funds for the conservation and restoration of the Piranesi prints. We greatly appreciate the support that donors have provided for past projects. Their generosity has helped us ensure that the incredible resources of the Lobkowicz Collections remain available to the public for years to come. For more information on how you can help, please visit our donations page.

The Lobowicz family member who had the greatest impact on the history of Western music was undoubtedly Joseph František Maximilian, the 7th Prince Lobkowicz.  A talented singer, violinist and cellist, Joseph František Maximilian was a great supporter of music, with his most important relationship being the one he shared with Ludwig van Beethoven.

The two met early on in one another's life, in 1792, shortly after Beethoven had arrived in Vienna at the behest of Count Waldstein. Joseph František Maximilian was just over 20 years old and Beethoven was 22.

Thereafter, the young prince followed the development of the composer closely, enabling him to stay in Vienna despite his previous commitments to the King of Westphalia in Kassel, and along with Archduke Rudolf and Count Kinsky, Joseph František Maximilan guaranteed Beethoven an annuity that would allow him to work without financial worry.

As he did with his loyal supporters, Beethoven repaid Joseph František Maximilan by dedicating a number of pieces to him - including, the six String Quartets Op. 18, the Triple Concerto, the Harp Quartet Op. 74, the lieder cycle An die ferne Geliebte and the 3rd (also known as the Eroica Symphony), 5th and 6th Symphonies. Originally dedicated to Napoleon, the 3rd Symphony was performed for the first time, privately, at Jezeří Castle in 1804, one year before the first public performance in Vienna. An engaging dramatization of the story behind this symphony and that first performance in VIenna was produced by the BBC in 2003 and can be purchased at the Lobkowicz Palace Museum Shop or ordered online through Amazon.com.

This year marks the 360th anniversary of the birth of the Infanta Margarita Teresa of Spain (1651-1673), whose famous face graces not one, but two portraits belonging to the Lobkowicz Collections.  

The Daughter of Philip IV of Spain and his second wife, Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, Margarita Teresa became consort to the Holy Roman Emperor following her December 1666 marriage to her only surviving maternal uncle, Leopold I (1640-1705), to whom she had been betrothed since childhood and under whom Václav Eusebius (1609-1677), 2nd Prince Lobkowicz, served as Chancellor of the Czech Kingdom.

In spite of her youth and the eleven-year age difference between them, the Emperor and his consort are said to have shared many interests, particularly theater and music, and to have had a very happy, if brief, marriage. Their union ended tragically when Margarita Teresa, already weakened by several earlier miscarriages, died shortly after giving birth to her fourth child at the age of 22.

The beautiful Infanta is depicted at the age of five and a Collections portrait attributed to Spanish painter Diego Velázquez. This important painting is on display in the Rožmberk Room at the Lobkowicz Palace.  

This very unusual and rare group of bird images dates from the early 18th century. They are created from real feathers, but the feathers are seldom from the actual birds depicted. Rather they were gathered from a variety of familiar domesticated fowl such as chickens, ducks, geese and doves. The feathers were first treated with dehydrating and softening agents. Next, they were sorted for size and texture and then dyed, if necessary, to create a palette appropriate to the specific bird depicted. Birds created in this fashion were occasionally “imaginary”; but, generally, identifiable species were preferred.

After a cardboard cut-out of the bird was made, the feathers were applied in overlapping tiers and each affixed using a glue made from the sap of the astragalus (milkvetch) plant. The feathered bird form was then affixed to a sheet of paper. Eyes, beaks, feet and an appropriate landscape setting of branches, rushes, pools, etc. were added in watercolor to complete the ensemble.

The town of Cheb, near Karlovy Vary in Bohemia seems to have been an early center for feathered artwork. The names of many of these specialist artists—often whole families, but especially women—are known. Although this large group of bird pictures may have been produced in Cheb in Bohemia, it is also possible they come from Silesia, another known center of feathered art production, where the Lobkowicz Dukes of Sagan held vast estates. Production in Cheb is known to have ceased by 1917.

The most important of the Lobkowiczes’ Northern pictures is Pieter Breughel the Elder's Haymaking. Painted in 1565 to hang in the dining room of the Antwerp merchant Niclaes Jongelink, this picture was originally part of a series of six panels, each presumed to represent two months of the year – in this case June and July.

In 1594 all six panels were given by the city of Antwerp to Archduke Ernst, Governor of the Netherlands. It is believed that the whole series was selected by Rudolph II at the division of his younger brother's estate in 1595. By 1659 only five panels are listed in the Vienna inventory of the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm (1614-62). It is not known if by that date Haymaking had already left the Imperial Collections, nor is it known when the Lobkowicz family acquired it, though it is first recorded as in their possession in 1870. (Three other panels hang in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and one in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art; the location of the last remains unknown).

This panel is exceptionally well preserved, and represents a pinnacle of Western art. For the first time in Western art, landscape is no longer just a backdrop or a setting for biblical subjects. Instead, it appears in its own right. Here it is shown as the place in which the common man and woman go about their ordinary lives – following the natural cycle of the seasons that determine their everyday existence. The peasants, in what was then a totally rural and non-industrialized world, are shown as being in a pre-ordained and inescapable communion with nature. As such, Brueghel elevates their hard and mundane lives to something that is heroic, yet idyllic.

Located in the 2nd Amory Room at the Lobkowicz Palace Museum are three pistols and rifle that form part of the garniture of firearms created by the 18th-century Bohemian gunmaker Leopold Becher (recorded circa 1720-1750).

Becher was an exceptionally skilled craftsman, combining the quality, precision and artistry that are all the hallmarks of all great gunmakers. Throughout his career, he was based in the western Bohemian city of Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary), a destination highly regarded as a spa resort and as an ideal base from which to hunt in the surrounding area. Becher’s clientele included members of the aristocracy and of society’s most affluent classes, many of whom traveled to Carlsbad to take the waters and to hunt.

2011 marked the 550th anniversary of the birth of Bohuslav Hassenstein Lobkowicz (1461-1510), the man whose personal library forms the oldest part of the Roudnice Lobkowicz Library.

An accomplished poet and Bohemia's most distinguished representative of Latin Humanism, Bohuslav amassed a collection of approximately 650 volumes - a remarkable number for the time - with the help of friends and a network of professional agents. The works he collected were authored primarily by humanists of the era, as well as classical writers such as Eulid; unsurprisingly, and with only one exception, they were written in Latin or Greek.