Exterior view
by WOLMUT, Bonifaz, Photo
The Ball Games Hall is located inside the Royal Gardens in Prague Castle. First built by Bonifaz Wolmut and Ulrico Aostali in the mid 16th century to serve as the Royal game hall for an early form of tennis and badminton, the fa�ade of the Ball Game Hall was decorated with impressive sgraffiti (depicting the Virtues, the Four Elements, and the Liberal Arts) and featured large garden side arcades.
The Ball Games Hall was designed as a hall structure, secured on the north side by powerful supporting piers. The main fa�ade had a columnar arcade of six arches flanked by two rows of niches, and the north and west sides were articulated with half-columns. The rich sgraffito decoration on the solid walls helped to lighten the appearance of the building and related it visually to a porticoed villa or triumphal arch.