Society in 19th century in Bohemia and Rilke, Kraus and Vrchotovy Janovice

The creators of this exhibition have strived to enable modern visitors to touch the lives of their recent ancestors in an intensive and interesting way, to make them think about this period in time and the various influences that have co-created, permeated and formed their culture. All this in the impressive interior of a chateau – among hundreds of original objects (pictures, clothes, furniture, toys, diverse precious and quaint objects).

The palace and park of Vrchotovy Janovice is also a place that, in the recent past, played home to a noteworthy being – the Baroness Sidonia Nádherná of Borutín. She was born here and from the time she became an adult to the time she emigrated, she was at the center of associations of writers, artists, politicians and philosophers, which often met here, individually and in groups. Rainer M. Rilke, Karl Kraus, Max Švabinský, Viktor Stretti, Karel Čapek, Antonín Podlaha, Adolf Loos, Camillo Schneider, Mechtilda Lichnowská – all names at the forefront of their fields. They stayed within the walls of the palace, strolled through the park, debated and discussed issues with each other; a diverse population of interesting people with original ideas. They journeyed here due to the personal magnetism and cultivated demeanor of Sidonia Nádherná; they returned because of her ability to form a friendly, harmonic atmosphere. Sidonia Nádherná was an anomaly – simultaneously a very modern woman of her time, and a noblewoman in the original meaning of the word.