01 Castle Guard conductor’s uniform, 1990s

Fotogalerie

President Václav Havel entrusted the creation of the entire collection of new uniforms for the Castle Guard to the world-famous designer and creator of film costumes and decorations Theodor Pištěk who received, among many other awards, an Oscar for his costumes for Miloš Forman’s Amadeus. The elegant design of the new uniforms contrasted sharply in cut and colour with the existing ones. The blue colour of the uniforms of the Castle Guard soldiers, together with the red and white used by the members of the fanfare orchestra, matched the colours on the Czech flag. The Castle Guard was also given a new emblem during this period, inspired by the original associated emblem of the Czechoslovak legions. It consisted of three coats of arms symbolising Bohemia (a white two-tailed walking lion in a red field), Slovakia (a white St. Andrew’s Cross on blue mountain peaks in a red field) and Moravia (a red and white checkered eagle in a blue field). The emblem was worn on the headgear, lapels and shoulder straps of service uniforms in patinated brass, and in the same places on representative uniforms in a coloured enamel version.

Since the domestic manufacturers did not have enough spare capacity and the new outfits of the Castle Guard had to be prepared in the shortest possible time, the first delivery was ordered from Bernard in the United States. The uniforms for the officer corps were made by the famous Prague tailor’s shop Adam. For the first time, soldiers in new uniforms and motorcycle riders providing the honorary escort were presented to the public on 15 March 1990 in connection with the visit of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Richard von Weizsäcker.