Kroměříž Archbishop's Palace — Attraction in okres Kroměříž

The Kroměříž Castle in Kroměříž, Czech Republic, used to be the principal residence of the bishops and (from 1777) archbishops of Olomouc. The first residence on the site was founded by bishop Stanislas Thurzo in 1497. The building was in a Late Gothic style, with a modicum of Renaissance detail. During the Thirty Years' War, the castle was sacked by the Swedish army (1643).

It was not until 1664 that a bishop from the powerful Liechtenstein family charged architect Filiberto Lucchese with renovating the palace in a Baroque style. The chief monument of Lucchese's work in Kroměříž is the Pleasure Garden in front of the castle. Upon Lucchese's death in 1666, Giovanni Pietro Tencalla completed his work on the formal garden and had the palace rebuilt in a style reminiscent of the Turinese school to which he belonged.

Interiors of the palace were extensively used by Miloš Forman as a stand-in for Vienna's Hofburg Imperial Palace during filming of Amadeus (1984), based on the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who actually never visited Kroměříž. The main audience chamber was also used in the film Immortal Beloved (1994), in the piano concerto scene.

After the castle was gutted by a major fire in March 1752, Bishop Hamilton commissioned two leading imperial artists, Franz Anton Maulbertsch and Josef Stern, arrived at the residence in order to decorate the halls of the palace with their works. In addition to their paintings, the palace still houses an art collection, generally considered the second finest in the country, which includes Titian's last mythological painting, The Flaying of Marsyas. The largest part of the collection was acquired by Bishop Karel in Cologne in 1673. The palace also contains an outstanding musical archive and a library of...

We took the Via Magnifica ticket without a guide and it was a great experience. We came early, shortly after 9:30 alleged opening and bought tickets, however the exhibition does not open until 10:00. Ladies at the counter could've told us. But exhibition was fantastic, I love old paintings, they have a Tizian painting there (unfortunately I couldn't be in awe when the custodian was expecting in, because all I had in my head after she mentioned the name was episode from Egzorcysta, where one demon was asking the other 'Tizian, Tizian! Nie gniewaj şie.) Anyway...the paintings were fantastic, there are couches to just sit and stare at them. We continued to chapel, small, but so beautiful. The library was a feast for my eyes. So many books. SO MANY! Custodian told us they are in two rows and showed us, that in the cabinet after the Liege hall, third shelf from bottom next to the door out, there is a book from Božena Němcová. After the library we went to the tower, steps were fine (be prepared for cca 200 steps) a cute workout. I didn't spend much time out as I am afraid of heights, but the view is 360 and people were satisfied with it. We ended our tour in a castle cafe. They don't have plant based milk, nor lactose free, but tea was good. We ordered cakes: Míša and parisian cake. Mine was the best parisian cake I have ever tasted. Too bad the cafe is so tiny, just a few tables inside and a couple outside, so gets crowded and loud almost immediately, but damn those...

DO NOT COME HERE IF YOU DON'T SPEAK CZECH We wanted to visit the palace because we read that it was beautiful. The only way we could visit it was with a guided tour, but they only gave guided tours in Czech. They did give us hope that we could get the information in english. They said that we needed to ask for 'the texts', which were the guided tours written in english for the guides themselves. The texts were way too long to read during the tour (even for the british person who was also on our tour). We were obligated to stay with the group because the next guided tour would be 5 minutes behind us. This was a complete lie since there is only one guided tour each hour (we were 20 minutes into the tour). The guide was very rude to us, just like here colleague who sold the tickets. When we asked to get a partial refund because we didn't receive what was offered to us, the lady just said that it was not her job but that we should try to find the contact information of the archbischop online and ask him?!? We asked if they didn't have any audioguides perhaps and she told us that was also not her job and that it was too hard for them to do it. We went to the museum on the second floor and there were litteraly lying 30 audioguides that weren't being used. There we could get and audioguide in Czech, English and Deutsch. The staff there were really helpful and should get a raise for putting up with their...