From Sudek's favourite Castle and Royal Garden the Ball Games Hall was damaged the most (sometimes called the Great Ball Games Hall). The building, originally intended for the playing of ball games, is a Renaissance site from 1567–1569 designed by the court architect and builder Bonifác Wolmuth.PV (VV, MS) [Pavel Vlček (Václav Vančura, Markéta Svobodová)], Královská zahrada (c. k. dvorní zahrada), in: Pavel Vlček a kol., Umělecké památky Prahy. Pražský hrad a Hradčany, Academia, Praha, 2000, pp. 459–460, 466. It was part of a set of buildings in the Royal Garden, such as Queen Anna's Summer Palace, an orangery and greenhouses built in the 16th century.

The Ball Games Hall burned down at the end of the May Uprising, on 9 May 1945. It was supposedly set on fire by occupiers escaping Prague.Oldřich Mahler, Po stopách květnového povstání v Praze, in: Staletá Praha XIX, Praha bojující, 1989, p. 26. A detailed description of the fire and its suppression is found in: Pavel Zeman, „Pražský hrad v květnu 1945. Svědectví o průběhu pražského povstání“, in: Paměť a dějiny 2/2015, pp. 67–76. https://www.ustrcr.cz/data/pdf/pamet-dejiny/pad1502/067-076.pdf (accessed 19 June 2017). It had been damaged almost two centuries before during Prussian bombardments and as a consequence caught on fire.Jan E. Svoboda – Jindřich Noll – Vladislav Skala, Praha 1945–2003. Kapitoly z poválečné a současné architektury, Libri, Praha, 2006, p. 16. The devastating fire in 1945 swept through the roof and beams fell into the interior. The Ball Games Hall was restored in 1948–1950 by Pavel Janák with the participation of Bedřich Hacar. The restoration works and completion of the sgraffitos on the exterior were carried out by the sculptor Josef Wagner, a close friend of Sudek's.Jan E. Svoboda – Jindřich Noll – Vladislav Skala, Praha 1945–2003. Kapitoly z poválečné a současné architektury, Libri, Praha, 2006, p. 21. In addition to typical motifs, there is also one curiosity on the facade – a socialist allegory of industry with the emblem of the five-year plan as a new addition from the period of this reconstruction.http://praga-magica.blog.cz/1012/micovna-prazskeho-hradu (accessed 13 July 2017).

Nowadays, the Ball Games Hall is the pride of the Royal Garden, its present appearance is the result of the latest restoration works from the 1990s.

Color
green
Perex
Prague Castle, Prague 1