František Maxmilián Kaňka

18 August 1674, Prague – 14 July 1766, Prague

František Maxmilián Kaňka was the son of a prominent citizen of Prague’s Old Town and the builder of the Prague fortifications Vít Václav Kaňka. He studied under Pavel Ignác Bayer and in 1699 became an independent architect. He was influenced by Giovanni Battista Alliprandi’s architecture and built some buildings for Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel. Due to his diplomatic talent, technical education and breadth of views, Kaňka became one of the most popular architects with foremost noble families, such as Czernin, Waldstein and Trauttmansdorff. Moreover, he had close relations with their members. He was paid for his works several times the average price at the time and at the pinnacle of his career was one of the wealthiest and best paid architects in the Czech lands. In 1724 he was appointed imperial architect. From the middle of the 1720s, Kaňka’s activities slowed down and in 1734 stopped entirely. He spent the rest of his life as a wealthy citizen involved in the brewery business.

Kaňka’s contribution to architecture is primarily connected with building aristocratic family seats. These usually do not represent a single unit, but are rather broken down into individual building materials, which together make up picturesque arrangements crowned with mansard roofs, typical of Kaňka. Some of the oldest projects of his include châteaux in Koloděje and Hořín, while architecturally the highest point of his work is represented by châteaux Jemniště and especially Krásný Dvůr, where the entire composition is intentionally gradated from the entrance, commercial and side wings on a lower level up to the entrance to the main building. Kaňka designed convent buildings for religious orders, as well as a number of smaller, unpretentious sacred buildings, sculptures, memorials and altars. The most significant, however, was further building work on the Jesuit college in Clementinum in Prague, where Kaňka designed the Church of Saint Clement, the astronomical tower and the so-called Mirror Chapel.

Kaňka’s style was recognisable for its frugality and minimalist exterior decoration. However, due to careful compositional arrangements of individual buildings, it also included a feeling for Baroque dramatization. Kaňka’s interiors, on the other hand, are usually richly decorated and they often included works by foremost sculptors.