The Salm Palace on Hradčanské Square

Switzerland was initially represented in the Czech territory only at the level of an honorary consul. Between 1897 and 1927, three Swiss entrepreneurs held this post.

In 1928, the representation was upgraded to an embassy and the office was located at Divadelní street. In 1934 the Embassy rented premises from the Schwarzenberg family in the Salm Palace (also known as the Small Schwarzenberg Palace) on Hradčanské Square.

The Embassy of Switzerland, including the residence, was located here for several decades. It was allowed to remain here even after the confiscation of the Schwarzenberg property in 1947 and the change of regime in 1948. There were occasional reports in the press that the palaces on Hradčanské  Square were to be evacuated and used for museum purposes. This would give the state better control over the area in front of the main entrance to Prague Castle. However, nothing happened for a long time, until all the tenants were given notice in 1977. The fact that Pavel Kohout, a writer and co-author of Charter 77, was also one of the tenants may have played a role. The StB had been following him for several years, and after the international response to Charter 77, the repression was significantly intensified. In his book "Where the Dog is Buried", Pavel Kohout mentions his neighborhood near the Embassy of Switzerland and his friendship with the Swiss Ambassador at the time, Walter Jaeggi. Jaeggi helped him to export his archives abroad.  

The Lorie Family Villa at Pevnostní 7

The two-story neoclassical villa at the corner of Pevnostní and Dělostřelecká streets (No. 588) was built in 1928 for Fürth's sister-in-law, Luisa Lorie, according to a design by architects Victor Fürth and Ernst Mühlstein.

Luisa Lorieová (born 1893) moved into the house with her children Josef (born 1915) and Gertrude (born 1918) in 1929, after her husband Moritz Lorie (1883-1925) had died. Luisa and Moritz came from Jewish merchant families.

After the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany and the establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in 1939, the anti-Jewish regulations of the Third Reich were adopted. Jews lost not only their property and jobs, but also their freedom of movement. In March 1940, Luisa Lorieová was forced to hand over her villa to the Central Office for Jewish Emigration, which was located in the building across the street at Dělostřelecká 11 and administered all the affairs of the Jewish population in Bohemia and Moravia.

Luisa and her family were among the first to be deported to the ghetto in Lodz, Poland, at the turn of October and November 1941. Here the trace of Luisa Lorie is lost. The last record is from 1942, the place of death is unknown. Josef and Gertrude were deported to other concentration camps via Auschwitz in 1944. Josef died shortly before the liberation in April 1945 in a labor camp near Dachau, Gertrude survived the liberation in Bergen-Belsen. The Red Cross brought her to Sweden as part of a rescue operation for Holocaust survivors. Despite the best efforts of doctors, she died at the end of July 1945 from the effects of her imprisonment.

To commemorate the fate of the Lorie family, Stolpersteine were placed in front of the entrance to their house (Dělostřelecká entrance) in 2024.

Only a few of Luisa Lorieová's relatives survived the Holocaust. Among them were her nephews Petr Planer⁴ and Alexander Polák. The house was returned to them in 1946. Both were members of the Communist Party, and after the war they held high positions in the newly emerging power structures. Petr Planer was among the first to suffer from the internal party purges against Jews that the party unleashed after February 1948. He was convicted after several years of harsh detention and was released in 1953.

These events and the circumstances of the time led to the sale of the house and other changes in ownership. The Czechoslovak state became the majority owner of the building in 1974. In the late 1970s, the building was offered for lease to the Embassy of Switzerland, which moved there in 1982. Twenty years later, in 2002, Switzerland bought the building. The current appearance of the building is due to a 2004-2006 renovation designed by architects Doris Wälchli and Ueli Brauen (Brauen Wälchli Architectes).

Residence of the Swiss Ambassador

After the eviction from the Salm Palace, Switzerland rented a house at Charles de Gaulle 915/27 (J.M. Sverdlova at the time) for the purpose of a residence.

Today, the residence of the Swiss Ambassador has been located at Fetrovská 1446/2. The villa, designed by František Troníček, was built in 1930 for Petr Čech, director of the First Czechoslovak Mutual Insurance Company. Switzerland purchased the building in 2000.