Lany, Central Bohemia, May 2 (CTK) – The presidential summer residence in Lany Chateau will be exceptionally opened to public on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Czechoslovakia’s birth this year, Ivo Velisek, director of the Administration of Prague Castle, the president’s seat, said on Wednesday.
President Milos Zeman has agreed with an open access day in Lany Chateau, while the exact date will be announced later, Velisek said during the opening of an exhibition about first Czechoslovak president Tomas Garrigue Masaryk (1918-35).
The early baroque chateau in Lany dates back to 1652 when the original Renaissance one from 1592 was rebuilt. It has been in state hands since 1918 and it was adapted to a summer residence of presidents before 1921.
The chateau is surrounded by a large park with a pond and greenhouses from the mid-19th century. The park is connected with the Lany game preserve.
The exhibition on Masaryk, prepared by the T. G. Masaryk Museum in Lany and the Prague Castle Administration, is held in a palm greenhouse from the latter half of the 19th century, which was reconstructed lately, until November 1.
The display documents Masaryk’s everyday life in some 70 photographs. They show his meetings with domestic and foreign politicians and other guests, such as American actors Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, Yugoslav King Alexander, Bulgarian Tzar Boris and British writer John Galsworthy, as well as his family life, his children and grandchildren.
Visitors can see how the first president spent his free time and what hobbies he had, the exhibition’s author Magdalena Elznicova Mikeskova said.
Moreover, the newly published memoirs of the Lany chateau chief gardener, Ladislav Krejsa, who worked there under president Masaryk, were presented during the exhibition opening on Wednesday.
