The National Gallery

In the heart of Prague, directly on Old Town Square, stands the Kinský Palace – an extraordinarily elegant Rococo building that faces the Jan Hus Memorial.

Behind its inviting pink façade, you will find something even more enticing because this palace belongs to the National Gallery Prague. The Gallery uses it primarily for short-term exhibits of contemporary as well as older art. Most of its previous exhibits have had the same common denominator – Asia. Its large Art of Asia exhibition presented Vietnamese art in the Czech Lands, Tibetan culture, floral symbols in Asian art, and calligraphy, among other things. It has exhibited work by such world famous artists as the German painter and visual artist Gerhard Richter, or the Czech avant-garde artist Jiří Kolář. Kinský Palace’s program includes the work of Czech painters living in Bretagne at the turn of the 20th century or by the masters of Impressionism.
The Kinský Palace was built between the years 1755 and 1765 on the site of three houses with medieval foundations. These can be seen today in the cellar, where the original ground floor with a Gothic cross vault has been preserved. Also worth seeing is the ornamental rectangular fountain in the palace courtyard. The Kinský Palace became part of the National Gallery Prague in 1949. It is open daily from 10 AM to 6 PM (Wednesday from 10 AM to 8 PM) with the exception of Monday, when it is closed.