Wallenstein Palace

Wallenstein Palace on Prague's Malá Strana is the largest Baroque palace in the city and has served as the seat of the Czech Senate since 1993. It was built between 1623 and 1630 for Albrecht von Wallenstein, the most powerful military commander of the Thirty Years' War, who razed 23 houses, three gardens, and a brickworks to clear the building site. The exterior blends Mannerism with early Baroque, while the expansive garden behind — featuring a sala terrena grotto, a pond, and bronze figure groups cast from originals looted by Swedish forces in 1648 — ranks among Bohemia's finest Baroque garden compositions. Wallenstein never fully enjoyed his palace: he was assassinated on imperial orders in 1634, before he could — as many historians believe — make his move for the imperial crown. The garden opens free of charge in summer and occasionally hosts open-air concerts in the arcaded loggia.