Lány Chateau

Official residence of the President since 15 April 1920.

Lány Chateau is located in the Central Bohemian Region, in Kladno district, near Prague. It is located in the southern part of Lány municipality, near the forests of Křivoklát. The chateau was preceded by a 16^th-century fortress built by the Žejdlic family of Šenfeld. The building was modified and served as Rudolf II’s hunting chateau as early as the 16^th century. The chateau was rebuilt again in the 17^th century, this time by the Wallenstein family and in Baroque style. In the 19^th century, the princes of Fürstenberg expanded the chateau and built the chateau park. The chateau has been a property of the Czechoslovak state and served as a residence of President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk since 1920. The chateau complex was rebuilt by Slovenian architect Josip Plečnik, who was also in charge of converting Prague Castle into the seat of the President of the Republic. The chateau complex still functions as a summer residence of presidents of the Czech Republic and is inscribed on the list of cultural monuments.

The chateau complex consists of a large English park with sculptural decorations and a fish pond, a church and economic and administrative areas. The complex is enclosed by walls with gates. The chateau consists of a three-wing, two-storey building, emphasised by a central avant-corps and two more on the sides. A gallery connects the chateau with the church. On the southern side of the building, a part of the park is in French style, while the rest was designed as a landscape park with trees. Sculptures and other elements of sculptural decorations are located in the chateau park. Plečnik’s most prominent work in the park is a monumental red-brick wall and a fountain from light stone with five bronze lion heads, symbolising the lands of the newly-founded republic: Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Slovakia and Subcarpathian Rus’.