Prague Castle Manege ( Czech Jízdárna Pražského Hradu or Hradní jízdárna ) is a historical building near Prague Castle opposite the entrance to the Royal Garden . The arena also includes a courtyard with stables and a pheasant breeding room, built by Rudolph II in 1600.
The modern heavy building 92 x 40 meters was built in 1694 by order of Leopold I according to the project of architect Jean-Baptiste Matei on the site of the previous building in 1572, which was smaller. Now on the facade there is a coat of arms of the empire, in the form of an eagle, which was removed during one of the reconstructions.
In 1760 there was a fire, during the reconstruction the roof was replaced, which has survived to this day.
The Manege operated only 103 years, the next 150 years it was used as a warehouse. In 1948–49, the Czech architect Pavel Janak carried out the reconstruction of the building. It was planned that the building would be an exhibition hall, although Janak was counting on multifunctionality. Therefore, instead of the old small windows with high parapets, he designed large, opening a new view of the city, opening space to the terrace. This is generally a plus, but rather a minus for exposure.
Nevertheless, the technical parameters of the room left much to be desired. Therefore, in 2006–07, reconstruction was again carried out according to the project of Ladislav Labus [1] .