Page:Guide to the Bohemian section and to the Kingdom of Bohemia - 1906.djvu/61

45 splendid Fuerstenberg garden which rises in artificial terraces and serpentine walks high up to the Lobkovic-palace, and to its threefold baroque loggia and picturesque balustrade, ornamented by interesting age moss-covered and considerably decorated vases and statues, the dark grey of which contrasts strongly with the lively green of the gardens underneath; as well as with the red masonry of the Castle-fortifications. Above the castle ascend the ridges of the higher Castle-buildings and above these like a splendid crown the Cupola of St. Vitus’, resplendent in the sunshine and surrounded with a whole group of steeples, pyramids and turrets. And in the foreground we see the high jet of a water-fountain, and on the slopes behind it a number of bowers and pavilions contributing to the charms of the gardens, we proceed farther on to the palaces of the counts of Palffy and Ledebour and to the Waldstein-square, the whole eastern side of which is taken up by the Waldstein-palace one of the most splendid buildings of the whole capital, a princely house with the chief façade turned to the Waldstein square. When in the zenith of his fame, not long after the battle on the White Mountain, Waldstein then the all-powerfulc ommanderall-powerful commander [sic]-in-chief of the united Catholic armies; and perhaps the most important personage in the whole of Europe, quickly bought up or by compulsion acquired, 23 houses with spacious gardens, and engaged Italian and Dutch architects under the lead of Giovanni Marini, to build a palace of most gigantic dimensions, worthy of his fame and power, and of the splendour of his court. In this palace assembled brilliant embassies of foreign monarchs and princes, the officers of Waldstein’s armies, the agents of the different political parties and the representatives of diverse courts and governments. For such visitors rows of splendid rooms were prepared, amongst them the large audience-hall taking up two stories of the house and ornamented with beautiful frescoes, in which Waldstein himself is represented as Mars in the panoply of war. With equal splendour, there is at the present time a series of saloons with furniture of Waldstein’s time and with particularly beautiful stoves of faïence bearing the coats of arms of the Waldstein’s and of their relations the counts of Trčka and of Harrach. No less attractive is the