The Game Reserve on White Mountain (Bílá hora) was founded by Emperor Ferdinand I (1534). A two-floor central building designed by Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol (1529-1595), the Governor in Prague (1547-1567), in a six-pointed star shape was built there as a hunting summer palace between 1555 and 1556. The construction of the Star Summer Palace was first supervised by master builders G.M. Aostalli and G. Lucchese, next by B. Wohlmut. Stucco decoration of vaults on the ground floor dating from 1556-1560, the first to ever appear in transalpine countries, would possess an outstanding quality. The first half of the 18^th century witnessed the Palace suffering due to troops camping in the Game Reserve. As decreed by Emperor Joseph I, the Star Summer Palace was used as a storage house for ammunition from 1785 to 1874 when it closed down.  

The estate boasts salla terena built in 1558, one of the oldest ballrooms in Bohemia (designed by B. Wohlmut). It was used in the 18^th and the 19^th centuries as a stable, but it is only a fragment of that building that has been preserved until today.

Following the establishment of Czechoslovakia in 1918, the Star Summer Palace was delivered in trust to Prague Castle. First, it underwent a radical reconstruction between 1948 and 1952 under Architect, Pavel Janák’s direction to house a permanent exhibition, which had been held in the Alois Jirásek Museum. Next, it was restored in stages between 1986 and 2000. Opening this Renaissance architectural and historical monument of extraordinary quality to a wide range of visitors from the Czech Republic and from abroad was the main project of the MCL within the programme ‘Prague 2000-European City of Culture’. The Star Summer Palace re-opened on May 25^th, 2000 (with a long-term permanent exhibition entitled ‘History and the Present’). The Palace houses temporary exhibitions devoted to famous figures or to the periods of classical or modern Czech literature and book culture; it is also a popular venue for events, concerts, conferences and social events.