Průhonice Chateau

My parents decided to buy new cars, the retrieval of which became a complex, multi-day logistical operation involving a disproportionate number of people. Since I was tasked with bringing one of the cars home, my dad took the opportunity to show me Průhonice Chateau, which I had never visited despite its proximity to Prague.

The name Průhonice is mainly associated with the sprawling chateau grounds, a popular venue in the Spring and much less so during frigid February mornings. For that reason, we saw few flowers, but also very few fellow visitors. The park had a certain charm regardless, thanks to its beautiful old trees and views of the chateau, and we could have spent several hours walking down its various paths had it not been so cold.

Průhonice Chateau passed through many hands during its seven-hundred-year long history, most notably those of Count Arnošt Emanuel Silva-Tarouca. It was Silva-Tarouca who, in the 1890s, rebuilt the chateau in neo-renaissance style, and had extensive work done on the chateau grounds. During the Communist era, the chateau was used by the Institute of Botany of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, and it remains in the ownership of its Czech successor organisation to this day.

The entrance to Průhonice
Průhonice Chateau
The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary
More of the same
Ibid.
More of the same
More of the same
Průhonice Chateau as seen from the park
More of the same
Trees at Průhonice Park
More of the same
A gargoyle
Another ancient tree
A fallen tree
Another view of Průhonice
More of the same
Ibid.
Ibid.
More of the same.
More of the same
Ibid.
A wooden hut below the chateau
The chateau courtyard
More of the same
Another gargoyle

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