Cesty hraběte Františka Arnošta z Harrachu do Velké Británie
Count Franz Ernst of Harrach’s Travels to Great Britain

Summary/Abstract: The paper was dealing with the British travels of Franz Ernst of Harrach mainly on the basis of his newly found correspondence in the Austrian State Archives. In total, eight British travels of a different character were docu­mented. The first journey, which took place in 1825 and during which he visited a number of mansions of British nobility and landscape parks, deepened Harrach’s tending towards the isles, which was later reflected in the construction of Hrádek u Nechanic and the rebuilding of Prugg Castle. The study has also shown that some of the Count’s other stays influenced the shape of Hrádek, for example his expedition of the late 1830s and his two travels to England in 1851 undertaken due to his participation at the World Exhibition in London, the second of which was partly shared with his architect Karl Fischer. An ana­lysis of the Count’s correspondence has shown that Harrach continued to visit aristocratic residences and landscape parks in the isles after 1825, made contacts, and that he pursued his business and his interests (as evidenced, among other things, by his participation in horse races in York). The sources also show that Franz Ernst was an Anglophile whose linkage to Great Britain was very strong and who knew the British environment very well.

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