The Colloredo-Mansfeld Palace is probably the most ignored place in Prague – it’s also the least expensive with admission set at just 1Kč.
Walking along Karlova Street (the street that links the Old Town Square (Staroměstské nám.) to Charles Bridge (Karlův most), most will ignore the last entrance on the left before you cross the street and onto Charles Bridge.
If you turn left into that entrance, there is a door on the right – inside is a lady who sells you a ticket. I’m guessing she’d prefer a 1Kč coin but you can always try and see if she can change a 1000Kč note just for the hell of it.
You then exit that room and go across to the door opposite and up some stairs.
At the top of the stairs is an attendant, who takes your ticket and usually tells you that photographs aren’t allowed – I later found that pictures on an iPhone are okay, just not cameras with a flash.
The rooms facing the street are not that impressive, but they are interesting. There’s also a great view from the window.
The dance hall (Piano Nobile) at the back is really impressive and was used in the filming of the 1983 film Amadeus by Milos Forman.
When you exit the dance hall, you follow the corridor back towards the street-facing rooms and back down the stairs – well that is unless the third floor is also open. When I visited there was an exhibition there and my 1Kč wasn’t good for that.
Note that you may be offered concert tickets to the Colloredo-Mansfeld Palace at a much higher price – they won’t mention that you can just visit for 1Kč.
Colloredo-Mansfeld Palace
Karlova 189/2
Prague 1
Summer season:
Tue-Sun 10 am.–6 pm.
Winter season (from 1 November to 30 March)
Tue-Sun 10 am.–4 pm. (except exhibitions on the 3rd floor)
admission 1 CZK
contact
phone +420 222 232 053
The Prague Review 