Michna Palace

Michna Palace or also the Palace of Michna from Vacínov, newly known as Tyršův dům is a pretentious Baroque palace, located in the south part of the Lesser Town, on the borderline of Újezd and Karmelitská street. Nowadays, it is a residency of The Sokol Movement and of Faculty of the Physical Education and Sport on Charles University.

At the end of 16th century, a Renessaince folly was originally built here, whose owners were changed quite often and each one of them made various construction work and expansion. So the folly was turned into a Renaissance villa with large garden, which became a property of imperial courtly official Paul Michna from Vacínov, in 1623. He rebuilt the villa completely into a Baroque style and turned it into a huge palace. In the second half of 17th century, it was puchased by Schwarzenbergs and from the second half of 18th century the palace used by an army, up to the end of The First World War, when it was classified as a ruin, due to its lamentable state. In 1923, ruins of the Michna Palace was purchased from the City of Prague by The Sokol Movement and it was rebuilt into its current state.

The Michna Palace has already hosted the World Chess Champions Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik, the best women’s chess-player of all times Judit Polgár, chess legends Vlastimil Hort, Lubomír Kaválek and Jan Smejkal and series of other world GMs during the ČEZ CHESS TROPHY 2013 festival.