Architecture in graphic art of the 16th-18th centuries. From the collections of the Archbishopric of Olomouc

16 Oct 2025
  • EXHIBITION: Architecture in graphic art of the 16th–18th centuries. From the collections of the Archbishopric of Olomouc
  • TERM: 16 10 2025 – 04 01 2026
  • OPENING: 16 10 2025, 18:30
  • PLACE: Archdiocesan Museum Olomouc, Gallery
  • CURATOR: Helena Zápalková
  • PROFESSIONAL COOPERATION: Ondřej Zatloukal, Miroslav Myšák, Miroslav Kindl
  • CONSERVATORY AND RESTAURANT WORK: Tomáš Guľaš, Veronika Langer Klimszová, Jana Mojžíšová, Gabriela Polívková
  • INSTALLATION: Tomáš Guľaš, Vlastimil Sedláček, Filip Šindelář, Ondřej Žák, Radka Žáková
  • GRAPHIC DESIGN: Kateřina Manková
  • TRANSLATION: Anna Zápalková
  • EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS: Hana Lamatová, Marek Šobáň
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The most valuable and at the same time the most interesting graphic prints of the 16th-18th centuries from the collections of the Archbishopric of Olomouc will be available to visitors of the Archdiocesan Museum Olomouc from 16 October 2025. The prints preserved at the castle in Kroměříž depict the architecture of buildings, their interiors and gardens, both ideal and ephemeral architecture, based on the sheer imagination and creativity of the creators. There are also popular vedutas and views of the city’s interior and its everyday or festive life.

“Although the depiction of architecture was primarily initiated by architects themselves during the Renaissance, it soon developed as an independent artistic genre. In addition to architects, painters and specialized draughtsmen increasingly became the authors of graphic designs, whose designs were carried out by professionally trained engravers,” explains Helena Zápalková, curator of the Olomouc Museum of Art. “A truly exceptional artist is the Italian graphic artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi, who managed to combine the training of an architect, a scientist-archaeologist and the inventiveness of an artist in his bravura etchings of ancient monuments. His albums are among the most valuable in the collection of prints in Kroměříž.”

The exhibition will include examples of the best-known illustrated Renaissance and Baroque architectural treatises, practical manuals and albums focused on perspective representation. Also featured will be prints of the architects’ own designs and examples of contemporary ornamental pattern books. There will be no shortage of eye-catching scenographic compositions and ideal architecture, prints documenting ancient monuments by the aforementioned Piranesi, or the historical architecture of English medieval monasteries by Václav Hollar. Specific to the Kromeriz collection is a very rich collection of representative albums dedicated to castle, palace and garden architecture. The numerous topographical works, whether from the production of the engraver and publisher Matthäus Merian or the Dutch cartographer Joan Blaeu, are also unrivalled in their accuracy. The city’s interior and life of the time were engagingly depicted in a series of views of Baroque Rome by Giovanni Battista Falda, Renaissance Florence by Giuseppe Zocchi and city brochures with important buildings of Imperial Vienna by the Augsburg vedutist Salomon Kleiner.

NOBLE COLLECTORS

The collection of prints of the bishops and archbishops of Olomouc is closely related to the history of the Kromeriz Castle Library, which was founded in 1694 by the art-loving Bishop Charles of Lichtenstein-Castelcorn in a newly built residence. Files of graphic sheets or richly illustrated books have been in the inventory of the castle library from the very beginning and their number has grown over time through targeted purchases and personal bequests of individual prelates. Most of the graphic sheets, together with a rare set of the Old Master’s drawings, were allocated to a separate collection by the archivist and librarian Antonín Breitenbacher in 1932. Nevertheless, some of the graphic albums remained part of the castle library.

“The collection is broadly ranging in content, geography and time. However, the graphic prints devoted to architecture are among the most elaborate and numerous. Whether it be theoretical works by the architects themselves or diverse, thematically focused albums. To a lesser extent, individual graphic sheets are represented in the collection,” says Helena Zápalková.

CATALOGUE AND ACCOMPANYING PROGRAMMES

The exhibition will be accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue throughout its duration. Similarly to the exhibition, the visitors will find a representative selection of the best prints from the Archbishop of Kroměříž’s collections. The publication is divided into thematic groups, from illustrations of architectural treatises to examples from narrative topographical albums.  

In addition, museum lecturers prepared creative workshops for children, their escorts and schools. For example, participants in the family graphic design workshop will create dream cities, buildings, chambers or gardens on Saturday 22 November. A short tour of the exhibition will inspire everyone. For more information, visit www.muo.cz.

The exhibition is part of the NAKI III project (DH23P03OVV015): ‘Friedrich Cardinal von Fürstenberg – the Last Aristocrat on the See of the Archbishops of Olomouc’ provided by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)