Lobkowicz Palace

Lobkowicz Palace (Lobkowický palác) is the only privately owned building within the Prague Castle complex, built in the mid-16th century and in the hands of the Lobkowicz family since 1623. The palace was confiscated twice in the 20th century — by the Nazis in 1939 and by the Communist regime in 1948 — and returned to the family only in 2002 after a decade-long restitution process; it opened as a public museum in 2007. Spread across 22 galleries, the Lobkowicz Collections constitute the oldest and largest private art collection in the Czech Republic, with highlights including The Hay Harvest (1565) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, panoramic views of London by Canaletto, portraits by Velázquez, and — in the music gallery — Beethoven's hand-annotated scores for the Eroica, 4th, and 5th Symphonies, and Mozart's reworking of Handel's Messiah. The audio guide is narrated by members of the Lobkowicz family themselves, giving the visit an unusually personal dimension for a museum of this calibre.