The origins of the palace probably date back to the 14th century, when there was a gothic yard and the church of Virgin Mary on a Puddle in the place of the palace and partly also in today’s Marianské Square. The church was pulled down at the end of the 18th century. The yard was owned by the brother of the emperor Charles IV, Moravian Margrave Jan Jindřich, who converted it into a two-storey palace with a tower. After Jan Jindřich the owners changed several times and the palace ended up as a possession of the Kinsky family. After the Battle on White Hill the palace was confiscated and given to general Mathias Gallas de Campo and from Freinthurn, who took part in the murder of Valdštejna. The palace, however, did not thrive until the times of Mathias’s grandson Jan Václav Gallas, who bought neighbouring houses and following the plans of the Vienna architect Jan Bernard Fischer from Erlach and in 1713 started building a real palace. Sculpture work was then carried out by the excellent Mathias Bernard Braun.
The Gallas family died out on the male side and therefore the palace was taken over by the son of the sister of the last Gallas Kristian Filip Clam. He joined together the names of both families and this is how the name of the palace was formed. At the end of 19th century, the palace served as a block of flats and a part of it was rented to the Ministry of Finances. In 1945 the palace was confiscated and for a long time served as the seat for the Archives of the City of Prague. It is not surprising that it was this palace that was chosen for the archives, as it contains 99 halls. Unfortunately the palace started to decay from the times when the Clams gradually got into financial troubles and changed the building into a block of flats. The palace kept dilapidating also after the year 1945, when no money was invested into its needed reconstruction. At the end of 1970’s the palace was assessed to be in emergency condition and gradual reconstruction started, which in the end did not finish until 1994.
This was also the stimulus for the archives to start organizing exhibitions, concerts and scientific conferences in a dignified place. There is a continuous interest in the palace, which has become the heart of the newly started tradition of Prague Carnival, which is to commemorate carnivals organized by the nobility of the 17th and 18th century. As a seat of an important noble family, the palace hosted such personages as e.g. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or Ludwig van Beethoven. Exhibitions that are held in the palace commemorate those, who had stayed in it, as does the latest Mozart exhibition.
What the fate of Clam Gallas’s Palace will be is not known, yet. When the new archives started to be built, it was said in 2005 that the Clam Gallas’s Palace will be freed. This is still true, although the direction of the archives is still located in the palace and a rich cultural life is organized in the premises. Whether the city will leave the archives in the palace as a place for organization of exhibitions and other events is still a matter of discussion. One thing is sure, though, the era of the palace as an archival depository has come to an end.