
New partnership of Collegium 1704 and Lobkowicz Collections
These days, Collegium 1704 is building a new partnership with the Lobkowicz Collections. We are looking forward to the interesting projects, that we will create together, and collaboration on our common field of activities!
The Lobkowicz Collections o.p.s. is the non-profit entity which manages the Lobkowicz Collections, one of Europe’s oldest, finest, and most intact family collections dating back over 1,000 years. Among tens of thousands of objects are outstanding fine and decorative arts, arms and armor, musical manuscripts, and a 65,000-volume rare books library, along with millions of archival documents—built upon centuries of patronage and stewardship. The Collections were confiscated under the Nazi and Communist regimes. With the passage of the Czechoslovak restitution laws in the early 1990s, the Lobkowicz family reclaimed and reassembled the Collections, making these previously hidden treasures fully available to the public for the first time in history. The Collections are currently exhibited at the Lobkowicz Palace in Prague Castle and Nelahozeves Castle.
The Lobkowicz Collections draws its significance from its comprehensive nature, which reflects the cultural, social, political, and economic life of Central Europe for centuries. Highlights include world-famous paintings by Bruegel, Canaletto, Cranach, Rubens, and Velázquez, Medieval and Renaissance works of art and exceptional decorative arts, such as the largest surviving Delft dinner service in the world (c. 1685). The Collections has one of the largest and finest private libraries still intact in Central Europe, showcasing 15th-century Albrecht Dürer woodcuts and a rare, 9th-century gospel book. An unparalleled collection of musical instruments, and printed editions of scores, parts, and libretti, is crowned by hand-annotated manuscripts and correspondences by many of the world’s greatest composers, including Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.