U.S. Embassy Gloriette Pavilion

The U.S. Embassy’s Gloriette pavilion in the garden of the U.S. Embassy in Prague.

The U.S. Embassy is currently housed in the Schoenborn Palace in the Mala Strana district of Prague. Richard Crane, the first U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia, sold the Palace to the United States Government in 1925 for $117,000.

It is built on the site of an earlier house that was destroyed during the Thirty Years War (1618—1648) when the Mala Strana quarter was occupied by invading Swedish forces. The present palace was erected in the period 1643 – 1656 by Count Colloredo-Mansfeld, an Austro-Hungarian general. The Count, having lost a leg at the battle of Lutzen, had the flight of steps leading to the first garden terrace built with a special incline to enable him to ride on horseback into the palace.

Photo v, Sept 2008