National Gallery Prague – Schwarzenberg Palace

This guide to the Schwarzenberg Palace in Prague opens in 1593, when the nobleman Jiri Popel of Lobkowicz was dragged from his own house and thrown into a dungeon on charges of betrayal and fraud against the emperor. It traces the palace back to its construction after a 1541 fire, through Jiri's rise at the court of Rudolf the Second, and forward through the string of noble families who inherited it after his fall. Look closely at the black-and-white wall pattern out front before you step inside — it isn't stonework at all.