The Rudolfinum opens

2005

The Rudolfinum, neo-Renaissance facade on Jan Palach Square Place: Vltava embankment, opposite the National Theatre Figures: Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, presiding · Josef Zítek and Josef Schulz, architects · the Böhmische Sparkasse, donor The Bohemian Savings Bank (Böhmische Sparkasse) is fifty years old in 1880. To mark the jubilee it commissions a building it will donate to the city: a concert hall, an art gallery, and exhibition rooms, on the Vltava embankment opposite the National Theatre then nearing completion. The architects are Zítek and Schulz, the same pair. The name is Dům umělců, the House of Artists, but the building is dedicated to the Habsburg crown prince Rudolf and so becomes, in popular use, the Rudolfinum. The chrome is neo-Renaissance, like the theatre, but lighter in spirit. The Dvořák Hall seats 1,200 with celebrated acoustics. The art gallery, in the south wing, becomes one of the first public galleries in Central Europe. The subject dates from 1885; this photograph was taken in 2005.