Amadeus: Prague as Vienna

The film begins in 1823, when aged composer Antonio Salieri attempts suicide in his Vienna home. Servants find him there. The house is really the former Palace of the Grand Prior of the Knights of Malta, on Lázeňská street in Prague's Malá Strana. Today the building is home to a private liberal arts college, the Anglo-American College, and is not open to the public, so enjoy it from the square outside.

After the suicide attempt, Salieri is committed to a psychiatric hospital, where he confesses to a young priest that he killed Mozart. That hospital is Invalidovna in Prague's Karlín district, built in 1737 on the idea of Les Invalides in Paris to house invalided war veterans. After the flood of 2002 damaged it, the complex was closed and shuttered. It is the place where Salieri tells the whole story.

In flashback, Salieri goes to a concert given by Prince Archbishop Colloredo of Salzburg, where he sets out to recognise the young prodigy he has heard so much about. The lavish palace interior is Kroměříž Castle, a Baroque residence in northern Moravia, in the eastern part of the Czech Republic. The palace and its gardens are open for guided tours.

訪問のヒント: Open for guided tours; it lies in Moravia, far east of Prague.

Salieri has been court composer to Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II in Vienna since 1774, and the Emperor's palace is where he and Mozart are bound together by the court. In the film, Jeffrey Jones plays the Emperor, and the setting is Prague's Archbishop's Palace on Hradčanské náměstí. It began as a Renaissance mansion, bought by Ferdinand I from the Royal Private Secretary.

Mozart, against his father's wishes, marries Constanze. In the film the wedding takes place in the Church of St Giles, at Husova 17 in Prague's Old Town. The church is easily overlooked, tucked away in the maze of tiny streets south of Old Town Square, so look carefully for it. The marriage is the start of the money worries to come: Mozart spends himself into debt, alarming his wife Constanze.

訪問のヒント: Tucked away on Husova street, south of Old Town Square.

Mozart's open-air concert was filmed in the Wallenstein Gardens of Wallenstein Palace in Prague's Malá Strana. The palace was built in 1630 for Albrecht von Wallenstein, one of the most powerful and wealthy Czech noblemen of his period. Today it is the seat of the Czech Senate. The palace is the first monumental early Baroque secular building in Prague, built for a man of great rank and wealth.

訪問のヒント: The palace is the seat of the Czech Senate; check opening times for the gardens.

The opera performances in the film were shot at Prague's Estates Theatre, which had hosted Mozart himself: he conducted the world premiere of Don Giovanni here on 29 October 1787. Most of the film's opera scenes were shot here, using candlelight inside the theatre. In the story, Mozart composes Don Giovanni, a dark, serious opera, and Salieri is entranced by it.

訪問のヒント: A working theatre; check the programme for Mozart performances.