The room
The Boccaccio ballroom, Prague, 1927
A dance hall of artificial marble, gilt and crystal under a Prague hotel: how the Boccaccio ballroom opened in 1927, what happened to it, and what remains.
Reserve your Mozart evening ↗Quick answer
The Boccaccio ballroom opened with the Grand Hôtel Steiner on 25 February 1927. It sits in the basement of the hotel, now the Grand Hotel Bohemia, and combines artificial marble, gilt and crystal in a Rococo-revival style. It was a dance hall that became a nightclub in the evenings, was used for filming during the communist era and was reconstructed in 1993. The Mozart dinner concert is held there.
A hotel for the new republic
In the 1920s Prague changed from a provincial city of the old empire into the capital of Czechoslovakia, and it lacked modern hotels for government delegations. Josef Steiner bought a plot next to the Municipal House and engaged the architect František Malypetr. The Grand Hôtel Steiner opened on 25 February 1927. The hotel's own history says it was built with modern comforts for its day, including its own lifts and a signalling system for room service.
A ballroom in the basement
The Boccaccio was created in the basement as a dancing hall. It was deliberately separated from the main building so that hotel guests were not disturbed, and it had its own staircase and entrance hall, plus an air-conditioning system that carried away smoke. The hotel describes it as built in a Rococo-revival style with stucco, gilt elements and Czech crystal, and the hotel's events page calls it neo-baroque. Both words point to the same ornate, curved look.
Artificial marble, gold and crystal
The hotel calls the room a work of art made of artificial marble, gold and crystal glass, with unique details. Its original floor is made of wooden panels, each composed of nine kinds of Oriental wood, laid on a wooden grid so that it is flexible underfoot. A large central chandelier was taken down during reconstruction, cleaned piece by piece and rehung. The room is still described as one of the most interesting halls in Prague.
Tea dances and soirées
In its early years the Boccaccio hosted tea parties and dance evenings that drew Prague's high society, including the foreign minister Jan Masaryk and the American ambassador. A large box above the bar is still called the Presidential Box. The hotel says it is told that the family of President Tomáš Masaryk reserved it. In the evenings, the hall changed into a nightclub,.
Decline and filming
After 1948 the hotel was taken over by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, renamed Hotel Praha and closed to the public for forty years, while its original furnishings disappeared. The ballroom was still used, and also became a filming location, appearing in the 1983 film Angel in a Devil's Body. The hotel notes that bullets from a pistol were found in the ceiling during the reconstruction of 1993, and it describes wild parties for Communist Party members and foreign guests in the room.
Restoration and the room today
After the Velvet Revolution the hotel was returned to the Steiner family and reopened on 1 October 1993 as the Grand Hotel Bohemia. The ballroom was completely reconstructed, with the artificial marble repaired, the decoration restored and re-gilded and the cupid sculptures renewed. The floor survived the flood of 2002, when it lay under water for three days. Today the hall hosts parties, receptions and concerts, including the Mozart dinner.
The room as a setting for Mozart
The hall has no connection to Mozart's own time. It was built more than a century after the composer's death, in a revived eighteenth-century style, and that style is the reason a Mozart programme feels at home in it. Gilt, mirrors, crystal and curved stucco belong to the world of the courts and theatres for which he wrote. The comparison with the real Mozart theatre, the Estates Theatre, is made in another guide on this site; this one concerns the dance hall.
Frequently asked questions
Is the ballroom the same as the Estates Theatre?
No. They are different buildings in Prague, and the Estates Theatre is where Don Giovanni premiered.
Can I see the ballroom without the concert?
The hotel's history page says the ballroom can be visited. Ask the hotel directly about visiting.
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