Rudolfinum
Neo-Renaissance concert house on the Vltava, home of the Czech Philharmonic and a contemporary art gallery.
The Rudolfinum was built between 1876 and 1884 as a house of art for the Czech Savings Bank's jubilee, and opened in February 1885 in the presence of Crown Prince Rudolf, after whom it is named. Josef Zítek and Josef Schulz, the architects of the National Theatre, gave it a neo-Renaissance form with a balustraded roofline carrying statues of composers and painters. It stands on Jan Palach Square beside the Vltava, facing the Faculty of Arts of Charles University.
The building combined concert halls with gallery space from the outset, and between 1918 and 1938 it served as the seat of the Czechoslovak parliament. It returned to music in 1946, when the Prague Spring festival opened in the Dvořák Hall, and it has been the home of the Czech Philharmonic ever since. Galerie Rudolfinum, reopened in 1994, mounts changing exhibitions of Czech and international contemporary art rather than holding a collection of its own.
Highlights
- Dvořák Hall, the Czech Philharmonic's home since 1946
- Roofline statues of composers and artists above the Vltava
- Seat of the Czechoslovak parliament between 1918 and 1938
- Galerie Rudolfinum, a kunsthalle for contemporary art
