Bertramka – Museum of W. A. Mozart and the Dušek family

Originally a vineyard estate from the end of the 17^th century, named after one of its owners, F. Bertramský, rebuilt in a Classicist style in the 2^nd half of the 18^th century. In 1784 it was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Dušek – František Xaverius, a piano player, pedagogue and composer, and his wife Josefína, an opera singer, who probably had merit in Prague staging of Mozart’s operas The Abduction from the Seraglio, The Marriage of Figaro, and later in the invitation of their author to Prague. The estate is world-famous for the stay of W. A. Mozart, who was a guest of Mr. and Mrs. Dušek in 1787, and he completed his opera Don Giovanni here shortly before its memorable Prague premiere on the 29^th October 1787. Here, Mozart also composed and dedicated to Mrs. Dušková an aria Bella mia fiamma, addio. He returned to stay here again in 1791. At that time, Bertramka looked differently than what we can see today.

In 1838, the estate was bought by Lambert Popelka, a great admirer of Mozart. The last owner bequeathed the villa to the international foundation Mozarteum in Vienna in 1925; in 1929 the Mozart’s Community in Prague purchased it back and it remained its property, quite exceptionally, until 1986. In 1986 it was taken over by the state, and it went through a reconstruction in the following year. The Monument of W. A. Mozart and the Dušek family at Bertramka was established by the National Museum in 1956.

A new permanent exposition was opened here on the 1^st December 2000, filling the residential floor with seven rooms, two of which were occupied by Mozart. The premises were returned to their original state and equipped with the original furniture; all the commemorations of Mozart and the Dušek family were gathered here, such as musical instruments, manuscripts, letters, pictures, engravings, prints, and other documents.

Bertramka has a garden with a sala terrena with original paintings from the years 1700 and 1780 (it is used as a concert hall), there is also a sandstone fountain with a statue of Live spring by J. Kodet from 1975, and a sculpture of the composer’s bust by T. Seidan from 1876.

After prolonged legal pursuits, Bertramka returned to its rightful owner in the autumn of 2009 – the Mozart’s Community.

Source: https://www.prague.eu/en/object/places/159/bertramka-museum-of-w-a-mozart-and-the-dusek-family