Christian Philipp von Clam und Gallas

http://genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00084553&tree=LEO

BIOGRAPHY Christian Philipp was born in Prague on 29 April 1748, the son of Graf Johann Christoph von Clam and Gräfin Aloysia Colonna von Völs. On 10 September 1770 he married Gräfin Maria Carolina Josepha von Sporck, daughter of Graf Jan Karel von Sporck and Gräfin Theresia von Thürheim. They had a son and three daughters who would all have progeny.

Christian Philipp was the great grandson of Matthias Gallas, a famous figure of the 30 Years' War. He had been adopted by his mother's aunt Gräfin Maria Anna Colonna von Völs, the widow of Graf Philipp Joseph von Gallas, the last male Gallas.

In 1699 Philipp Joseph's father Graf Johann Wenzel von Gallas (imperial ambassador to England, the Hague, the Papal Curia, and viceroy in Naples and Sicily) had commissioned the architect Giovanni Domenico Canevalle to renovate the Prague palace awarded to his grandfather Matthias Gallas, that had been formerly owned by Graf Wilhelm Wchinsky Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau, friend and close collaborator of Albrecht Wallenstein, and murdered with him in Cheb (Eger) in 1634. Not fully satisfied with the result, in 1713 Johann Wenzel commissioned Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach to further redesign his palace, and the work was largely completed in 1719, the year of Johann Wenzel's death (he was murdered in Naples on 25 July).

Johann Wenzel's son Philipp Joseph then commissioned Carlo Carlone, an Italian painter of renown, to undertake the interior embellishment of the palace. This work was still not quite completed on Philipp Joseph's death, when the palace was inherited from his widow by Christian Philipp von Clam. He united both family names as Clam-Gallas, giving the palace its final name.

In 1770 Christian Philipp also inherited the great Bohemian estate Frydlant which had belonged to Albrecht Wallenstein and had been bought very cheaply by Matthias Gallas. When it was taken over by Christian Philipp, Frydlant was again dilapidated by the havoc of the Seven Years' War. He carefully restored the chapel and castle. The latter was opened to the public in 1801 as a museum dedicated to Wallenstein's memory.

Christian Philipp died in Prague on 8 February 1808.