particularly English architects on the castles at Sichrov and Hrádek, the native work already referred to was produced under English influence, transmitted by way of Munich and Vienna, and the same applies to the Romanesque and Gothic motifs with which the façades of houses were abundantly decorated at that period. Quite a number of such buildings are to be found in the Hybernská ulice, the Havlíčková ulice and the Revoluční třída, the Gothic designed iron suspension bridge at the end of the last-named thoroughfare being the work of English engineers. The transition to the subsequent period of precise academic form does not appear until the monument of the Emperor Francis on the Embankment at Prague, the joint work of the stone-carver J. Kranner and the sculptor J. Max (1844–46); the Harrach mausoleum at Branná (1844–48); and some of the works of B. Grueber and O. Niklas.
The Empire style maintained its supremacy until the middle of the nineteenth century; no doubt this was due to tradition, but still more to the state of mind of that time. It cannot be disputed that the first Gothic architecture which appeared in the nineteenth century, after slow, but sure beginnings, shook the very foundations of the strong convictions that had hitherto obtained in the Empire style. This process continued without any violent opposition until 1840. From that time onwards one can hardly be surprised at what Professor F. Mertens says in his article on Prague architecture in 1845, namely that the Prague Custom House is built in a so-called Etruscan style, which is lifeless and can be obtained only by laborious work. This conception was already familiar outside the artists’ studios. There was a growing conviction that the conventional style was no longer suitable for public buildings and mansions, while the churches were to be constructed in mediæval style, and the châteaux, town halls or schools in that of the Renaissance.
