Villa Kratochvíle as an example of an Italian garden in the Czech lands

Abstract

The paper deals with an example of the Italian garden applied as a type in the Czech lands. Villa Kratochvile is one of the very few cases of an independently created Renaissance villa in the territory of the Czech Republic. Its author was an Italian builder coming from the area around Como Lake - Baldassare Maggi and he was commissioned by a significant Czech nobleman, William of Rosenberg. Villa Kratochvile together with the surrounding landscape is compared with the landscape of lakes around Mantua and Palazzo Te, which is typologically similar. Especially the use of large water bodies is what these two places and their surrounding landscape have in common. Italian arts came to the Czech lands directly with Italian artists - one of them was the garden design. However, it was transformed there by the cultural tradition as well as the geographical location.