whole, add any new features to the general aspect of late Empire architecture, as already described. Although from the south of Germany, from Bavaria and Austria, ever since the ’forties there: had penetrated as far as Bohemia various ideas which were prevalent throughout Europe at that time and which, under the guise of a national style, led in the direction of medieval art, the development abroad towards a perfect mastery of forms and notably of the constructive principles of Gothic and Romantic architecture, was considerably in advance of the Czech centres where the elements of mediæval styles were manifested in the poor configurations of secular Prague architecture up to the middle of the nineteenth century, and in the provinces up to the end of the ’seventies, in a free and exact form.
These elements, employed only decoratively for the scaffolding of standardised late Empire architecture, were actually foreshadowed by Czech architects in the Romantic forms unscientifically conceived and naively applied at the beginning of the nineteenth century. In Bohemia, however, at that period, this led to no artistic result such as is denoted in the Baroque-Gothic of the most finished works of Santini. In this respect a real model is afforded by the small castle of Franzensburg in the Laxenburg Park (1801–1836), the work of the Viennese dilettante in architecture, Riedl, and the forms which here proved effective in comparatively superior material, were used most monumentally in the rebuilt villa of the Governor of Prague at Královská Obora in accordance with the plans of Professor J. Fischer.
At the end of the Empire period, however, actual Gothic profiles and ornaments confer their fundamental character upon the works of Beer and Hluboká, the Church of P. Marie at Turnov by B. Grueber, and the old Town Hall at Prague rebuilt by P. de Nobile (northern façade 1834–48), and by P. Sprenger (eastern façade 1846–1848). Apart from the work of foreign and
