Prague, March 22 (CTK) – Czech nobility’s role in European diplomacy will be highlighted by an all-year project of a series of exhibitions to be launched by the National Heritage Institute (NPU) on Thursday, involving dozens of NPU-managed sites and marking the European Year of Cultural Heritage.
In previous years, the NPU staged exhibitions to present various Czech noble families and their history. This year, it decided to map Czech aristocrats’ influence on European and world developments.
With its privileged position in society, nobility became involved in diplomacy from the Middle Ages, and significant aristocrats also worked in diplomatic services in the civic society era in the 19th century and interwar Czechoslovakia.
The NPU keeps a vast and valuable collection of artifacts linked to diplomacy performed by noblemen.
The all-year project will be launched on Thursday in Prague’s Cernin palace, once a residence of the Cernins, a noble family active in diplomacy, which is now the seat of the Foreign Ministry.
Exhibitions of documents and other items highlighting diplomatic activities of noblemen will open in more than 40 historical buildings managed by the NPU.
For example, the UNESCO-listed Krumlov chateau, south Bohemia, will newly present the story of a giant gold coach that was made in Rome in 1683 for a diplomatic mission of Krumlov-seated Prince Johann Anton I of Eggenberg, at which he announced the election of Ferdinand III Habsburg as the new Holy Roman Emperor to Pope Urban VIII.
The Kynzvart chateau, west Bohemia, will highlight the role of Prince Klement Wenzel von Metternich in European diplomacy.
The Cervena Lhota chateau, south Bohemia, will focus on Prince Johann Schonburg-Hartenstein, the Austro-Hungarian monarchy’s last ambassador to the Vatican.
The Zakupy chateau, north Bohemia, will remind of the personality of Orlik, the Duke of Zakupy, who was the only legitimate son of Napoleon I.
The whole project will culminate with an exhibition in the Jindrichuv Hradec chateau, south Bohemia, devoted to diplomatic activities of the Cernin noble family from the early Middle Ages until the 20th century.
