Kačina is a significant empire style palace built in place of the defunct medieval village Kačín. It was built as a prestige mansion of the supreme burgrave of the Kingdom of Bohemia and president of governorate Jan Rudolf Chotek (1748–1824) from 1806 to 1824. The architectural scheme was drawn up by Saxon royal architect Christian Franz Schuricht (1753–1832) from Dresden. Johann Philipp Jöndl (1782–1870) and in the last few years also had controlled running the construction. He also eminently influenced the final appearance of the castle.
Functionally the castle is divided into three parts. The main building with exquisite halls and the residence of earl family, then two quarter circle adjacent lower wings with pillared colonnade where the guest rooms were situated. To those wings were connected other pavilions. In the right one is situated never finished mansion chapel and theatre which were finished in the first half of 19th century.
In the left one there is a Chotek's extensive library dated from 16th to 19th century. The castle is surrounded by vast park that was founded already in 1789 according to the plan of famous Viennese botanist Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin (1727–1817), it was completed thirteen years earlier than the castle itself.
References:The Clementinum is a historic complex of buildings in Prague. Until recently the complex hosted the National, University and Technical libraries, the City Library also being located nearby on Mariánské Náměstí. The Technical library and the Municipal library have moved to the Prague National Technical Library at Technická 6 since 2009. It is currently in use as the National Library of the Czech Republic.
Its history dates from the existence of a chapel dedicated to Saint Clement in the 11th century. A Dominican monastery was founded in the medieval period, which was transformed in 1556 to a Jesuit college. In 1622 the Jesuits transferred the library of Charles University to the Klementinum, and the college was merged with the University in 1654. The Jesuits remained until 1773, when the Klementinum was established as an observatory, library, and university by the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.