Concert halls

CLAM-GALLAS PALACE

The Clam-Gallas Palace is situated on the crossroads of important medieval roads. Here one of the oldest roads to Vyšehrad crosses the axis between Prague Castle and the centre of the Old Town. There used to be a Romanesque court, the remainder of which can be found as a wall of stone masonry in the vaults of the present palace. Part of the court was also the Church of Our Lady " Na louži" , rebuilt in Gothic. Its tower dominated the northern ending of the present Husova Street in the place of today´s Mariánské Square as late as 1791.
In the 14th century the court belonged to the Moravian Margrave Jošt, nephew of Charles IV, who had it rebuilt into a large two-storeyed palace with a massive tower by the southern side. In the 16th century the palace became the property of the Kinský family. After Vilém Kinský' s murder in 1634 it was presented to the imperial general Matthias Gallas da Campo and of Freinthurn. His grandson Jan Václav bought several neighbouring houses and had the present palace built on their sites in 1699. He charged Marcus Antonio Canevale with the reconstruction. Another radical reconstruction together with a significant enlargement after a plan by the famous Viennese architect Jan Bernard Fischer of Erlach started in 1713. The construction was lead by Jan Dominik Canevale.

Today the Clam-Gallas Palace is the second most distinctive building at Husova Street. Its mighty portals with the couple of Gigants and plastic reliefs by Matthias Braun rank among the most impressive works of the Prague Baroque. The interior of the palace shows a grand noble residence of its builder Jan Václav Gallas, the viceroy of Naples, and his heirs, especially Christian Phillip Clam-Gallas, from the end of the 18th century when the interior adaptation was finished. The view of the first courtyard is closed by the fountain with a figure of a Triton by M. Braun. The main staircase is decorated by statues and vases by the same artist and on the vault there is an extensive fresco of The Triumph of Apollo by Carlo Carlone dated 1727-30. Paintings of gods and goddesses on the walls of the staircase, in the two halls on the second floor (The Gathering of the Olympian Gods and The Coronation of Arts and Sciences) and in the library (Moon, Helios and Stars) are also by him. Next to the library on the second floor there is a beautiful hall with stucco and ornaments in the style of the Rococo Revival from the mid-19th century. Nowadays both halls are used for organizing classical music concerts. Rooms on the first floor are adapted in the Rococo style.
About 1800 there was the corner garden laid out on the site of the former graveyard of the Church of Our Lady "Na louži". An empire fountain by Václav Práchner with the alegory of the Moldau River in the shape of a beautiful girl called by Pragovians intimately Terezka was placed to its wall in 1812. In that time the palace became the centre of arts and sciences where scholars and artists used to meet under patronage of Christian Christoph Clam-Gallas. The northern wing was heightened by one floor for the purpose of theatre performances. However, the theatre hall has never been realized.
The Clam-Gallas Palace is a wonderful example of a late Baroque residence of nobility. It is an outright classical illustration of placing a monumental palace into the tight room of a minor medieval urbane built-up area. The whole facade of the front wing is enlivened by a complex combination of plastic and architectonic elements creating a notable synthesis of the Italian Baroque and the French Classicism. Today the Clam-Gallas Palace houses the Archives of Prague and is only open to the public during concerts.