The story
Founded by Antonín Petrof in 1864.1
The company was founded in 1864 in Hradec Králové, Empor Österreich, by Antonín Petrof (d. 1915), who had apprenticed at Wenes companies such as Heintzman & Co., Friedrich Ehrbar and Schweighofer.
The owner Antonín Petrof was awarded an imperial and royal warrant of appointment to the court of Austria-Hungary. In 1924 the company was exporting its pianos to Europe, Japan, China, Australia and South America.
At the World Exhibition 1934 in Brussels, the Petrof instruments won the gold medal. At that time, approximately 400 people worked at their factory.
After the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, the company was nationalized.
In 1991, the company was returned to the Petrof family. Petrof is currently led by two sisters from the fifth generation of the Petrof family and produces annually approximately 100 grand pianos and 500 upright pianos. Petrof is known for several innovations, such as ways to adjust the mechanics and particularly pressure point through magnetic systems.
After 1993, the piano company G. Rösler of Česká Lípa, Bohemia, was acquired.
From Wikipedia’s article on Petrof, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5