At Prague Castle, the Deer moat opposite the entrance to Kralewski the garden is the impressive equestrian arena, which was built by order of Emperor Leopold I in the place of the old building, which served for the same purpose. For the construction of a new arena was invited Jean-Baptiste Mate, who has developed a project in the Baroque style that suited the taste of the Emperor. The erection of the building was started in 1694. To the room size h meters were attached to the yard, where there was a well-equipped stables, and a pavilion for keeping pheasants. They were built almost a hundred years earlier at the direction of Rudolf II.

In 1760, the arena was damaged by a fire, so I had to repair it. In the process of restoration work has been fully replaced roof. It is what we can now see the building in front of the entrance to Prague Castle. By the way, and the facade has remained almost unchanged since those times. It is still decorated with stucco bas-reliefs, among which not only the emblem of the Third Reich, which is not surprising. If we consider in more detail the decoration of the facade, you can see images of running horses, old weapons, hunting scenes.

The arena was briefly used as intended – about a century. Then it was turned into a warehouse. After the Second world war came the idea to make the Manege exhibition hall, and maybe something else. In order to make the building lighter, small Windows were replaced with large openings through which easily penetrate light into interior spaces. Unfortunately for paintings and objects exhibited in the arena, it was not very good. To improve the technical quality of the arena tried again in 2006-2007. At the moment, the arena was loaned by the National Gallery, where she conducts various exhibitions.