Hvězda Game Reserve
A six-pointed Renaissance summer palace in a walled wood
- Area Břevnov
- Type Park
- Time needed 1h 30m
Hvězda is a walled hunting park west of the centre, laid out in 1530, with a summer palace built from 1555 in the shape of a six-pointed star — which is what the name means. The star plan is not decoration: the rooms are wedges around a central hall, and you feel the geometry as you walk it. The park covers a good deal of ground in Břevnov and Liboc and is free to walk; the palace is a museum with an admission charge.
Open in the planner →Getting there
Trams 22 and 25 run west from the centre; get off at Vypich, from where a path leads into the park through the wall, or stay on to the Bílá Hora terminus and enter from the north-west. Metro A (green) to Petřiny is another way in, with a walk of about ten minutes. From Staroměstské náměstí allow forty to fifty minutes, most of it on the tram. Inside the wall it is a flat walk of about ten minutes along a straight avenue from the gate to the palace, on gravel and earth.
What you see
The approach does half the work: a long straight ride of trees with the white palace closing the view, and it only reads as a star once you are close enough to see two points at once. Inside, the ground floor is the reason to pay — white stucco relief across the vaults, mythological scenes in low plasterwork from the 1550s, unpainted and still crisp, one of the best Renaissance interiors in the country. The upper floors hold the Museum of Czech Literature's displays, which are text-heavy and mostly in Czech, and a viewing level under the roof. Outside, the park is more wood than garden: beech and oak, broad rides, a game-park wall still largely intact, and little in the way of planting or formal layout. The site of the battle of the White Mountain of 1620 lies just beyond the park's western wall, marked by a mound and a small chapel, and the walk out to it takes a few minutes.
What to pair it with
Břevnov Monastery is a short tram ride back east along the same line. The battle site at Bílá Hora is next to the park wall, and Petřiny and the western suburbs are on the way back to the metro.
When to go
Late afternoon in autumn is the best of it, when the beeches turn and the rides go long and low-lit. Weekend afternoons bring local families, runners and dogs into the park, but it is big enough to absorb them. The palace is shut one day a week and reduces its opening out of season; check before you go. Winter strips the wood back and makes the building's shape clearer from a distance.
What is hard about it
Most of the visit is a walk in a wood, and the wood is pleasant rather than remarkable — people who come expecting a formal Renaissance garden find nothing of the kind. The literature displays upstairs are poorly served in English and will mean little to most visitors, so you are effectively paying to see the stucco on one floor. It is a long way out for ninety minutes. The paths are unsurfaced and turn muddy after rain, and there is no climb but a fair amount of flat walking between the tram and the door.
Common questions
How long do you need at Hvězda?
About ninety minutes, split between the palace interior and the walk through the park. Add half an hour if you go on to the White Mountain battle site.
Do you have to pay to walk in the park?
No. The park is open and free to walk; the admission applies to the palace only.
Is the palace open all year?
Not fully. It closes one day a week and cuts its opening back out of season, so check before you go.
Nearby
More of the same kind
- PetřínThe wooded hill above Malá Strana, with orchards and a funicular
- Kampa IslandAn island under the Charles Bridge, with a mill wheel and a park
- Letná ParkThe plateau above the river, with a beer garden and the metronome
- Prague ZooOne of the best zoos in Europe, built into a hillside