New look for Prague Castle’s Theresian Institute, largest investment in last 20 years
The Theresian Institution of Noble Ladies takes up approximately one-fifth of Prague Castle’s panorama. Its roof and façade are now set to undergo reconstruction, as part of a 180 million crown plan – the largest investment at the Prague Castle in the last two decades. The works should be completed by 2026.
According to the Prague Castle Administration, the Institute is now entering the second stage of renovations, which will bring the most apparent visual changes. This includes the building’s roof, which is one of the largest continuous baroque roofs in the country, measuring roughly 6,500 square meters, and counting 210,000 roof tiles. All of them will be replaced.
The building will also receive a new façade. After 270 years, the Institution of Noble Ladies will return to its original look, as conceived by Maria Theresa’s architect Nicolò Pacassi. According to the Castle Administration, all will be done using original methods and under the close supervision of conservationists.
Petr Měchura, the Head of the Presidential Heritage Care Office, explains how exactly this part of the project will take shape:
“The façade will once again, almost three centuries later, have its original colour scheme restored, featuring a combination of earthy green tones and subtly muted ivory. We were able to determine the original colours from the oldest layers preserved beneath the coatings from past centuries. The restorers will reinforce and repair the historical plaster, which has been preserved extensively, and restore the visible surface layers,” he says.
The Theresian Institution of Noble Ladies opened on December 8th, 1755, replacing a palace previously belonging to the Rosenberg noble family. It served as a religious order for 30 impoverished, unmarried noblewomen over the age of 24 from Austrian and Hungarian families.
Maria Theresa’s own daughter and heiress presumptive, Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, was also enrolled in the Institution due to poor health and physical disability.
The most notable alumna was Baroness Mary Vetsera, the mistress of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria and Franz Joseph I’s only son. Vetsera and the heir apparent died in a suicide pact in 1889. As a result of the scandal, known as the Mayerling incident, the throne succession passed to Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination in 1914 sparked World War I.
The Theresian Institution itself remained active until 1919, before housing the Ministry of Interior for a part of the 20th century. Today, the building contains restoration workshops, offices of the Prague Castle Administration, and the Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
The large sandstone sculpture of the Institute’s coat of arms has, nevertheless, remained above the portico dome of the building’s entrance until today. The piece also went through restoration earlier this year. The final, third stage of reconstructions is planned to finish by the end of 2026.
