Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic

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State Rooms of Czernin Palace

 

In the past the Large Hall was used for conferences of the Warsaw Pact, which was dissolved within these walls on 1st July 1991. The document was signed by Czech President Havel and Vicepresident of the former USSR Janaev.

The Large Hall

Place of official conferences.

In the past the Large Hall was used for conferences of the Warsaw Pact, which was dissolved within these walls on 1st July 1991. The document was signed by Czech President Havel and Vicepresident of the former USSR Janaev. ( Note: The hight of the Large Hall is equivalent to three floors).

 


 


1st Floor

The Music Room

Used for receptions on the occasion of foreign visits and delegations, for consultations and expert talks (as well as the The Golden Room and the The Blue Room).
Note: these three rooms were used as the office of the Reichsprotector K.H. Frank in the period of occupation of the country by German forces (WW II).

 

The Music Room is also called the Masaryk Room, because of a portrait of Jan Masaryk (by Vratislav Nechleba from the Academy of Arts), which used to be situated above the fire place. Until now it is not known where this portrait has been moved to. The main art works of the Music Room are: tapestry "MayJune" (Brussels,1700–1710), fragment of tapestry "Pasture" (France, around 1700), tapestry "Duck Hunting" (France, end of the 17th century), wardrobe (Hamburk,17th century), two oak cases (Austria, second part of the 17th century), two paintings (mythological scenes, Italy, 17th century), two Empire lamps (France, 1800) and a table (yellow marble, Italy, 18th century).

The Golden Room
Art works: tapestry "The Coming of Troians to Didó" (France–1670), painting "Landscape with Herd" (Josef Roos, 1726–1805, bought in 1929, restored in 1992), painting "Vintage" (unknown artist, beginning of the 17th century), mirror (Venice, middle of the 18th century).

The Blue Room
Art works: tapestry "MarchApril" (Jodocus de Vos, Brussels, between 1700 and 1710, Note: the "Months" cycle was bought for the Ministry in 1929. It is the only original Czernin inventory.), copy of an early Baroque cabinet with original 17th century parts applications, painting "Winter Landscape with Village and Staffage" (Dutch painter, 17th century), painting "The Sacrifice" (unknown artist, 18th century, between 1939–1946 stored in the National Gallery, in 1946 returned to the Ministry), Empire armchairs (Vienna, 19th century, before WW II situated at the Embassy of Czechoslovakia in Moscow), oval mirror (Vienna, 1750), Baroque mirror (Teplice, 1760).

The Oriental Room

Used for signing of international treaties.

 

Art works: cabinet with oriental carving (England, 1740), sideboard with chinoiserie (France, 19th century), Persian style jewellery box, inlaid with mother-of-pearl floral motifs, placed on Italian Baroque little table (first half of the 18th century), cabinet with red and black lacqueurs (England, second half of the 18th century), cabinet inlaid with tortoiseshell (Germany, 17th century), two Rococo mirrors (Central Europe, around 1750), two oval mirrors (around 1750).

The Mirror Room

Place of press conferences.
Art works: tapestry "Alexander Entering Babylon" (Aubusson, France, 1670–1680), collection of Rococo mirrors (Austria, 17th century).

2nd Floor

The Hall

Used for press conferences.
Art works: tapestry "Triumphe of Alexander the Great" 380 x 650 cm (Brussels, fom the collection "Exploits of Alexander" – around 1650), verdures with animals 280 x 320cm and 265 x 276 cm (collection of three pieces, the third is in the corridor of the Office of the Minister) – these verdures are in Renaissance style, made around 1550 by Eghten and Grammont, Holland (bought from the estate of Jiří Kristián Lobkovic and situated at the original place selected on the occasion of interier decoration by J. Stretti-Tamponi), cabinet with Cheb intarzia (Czech work, second half of the 17th century), cabinet with tunghra (tunghra=signature of the Sultan) placed on the piano (Turkey, 19th century), painted ceiling (transferred from the south part of Czernin Palace during the reconstruction by Janák).

The Winter Garden

The Alliance Treaty between Czechoslovakia and the USSR was signed here by Minister Beneš and Ambassador Alexandrovsky.
Art works: collection of paintings "Five Senses" ((Central Europe (perhaps Germany), late 17th century)).
 

The Pink Room

Used for official and working lunches and dinners hosted by Minister or Deputy Ministers (as well as the Large Dining Hall and the Small Dining Hall).



The Small Dining Hall

Art works: glass cabinet with floral intarsia (Holland, 18th century), Classic sideboard with intarzia type "boulle" inlaid with tortoiseshell (France, 19th century), collection of chairs Louis XV (second half of the 19th century), painting "Card players" (Dick van Santwort, who might have been a student of Rembrandt).

The Ministerial Apartment

The ministerial apartment was built during the reconstruction of the building in the 1930s. It was in full use, however, only by the first postwar Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jan Masaryk (1886–1948), the son of the first Czechoslovak President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. The apartment includes the bedroom and the bathroom of Jan Masaryk, who died in tragic circumstances – he was found dead under the window of his bathroom in the courtyard of Czernin Palace on 10th March 1948 (note: the equipment of the bathroom dating from 1936 still works). The circumstances of his tragic death have not been convincingly clarified to this day.

 

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