The Klenová District Gallery was founded in 1964. The first director was appointed Klatovy painter Vladimír Levora, who was instrumental in making the then derelict castle and chateau accessible. The gallery gradually began to build up its own collection. In the early years, it exhibited mainly 19th century Czech art from the collections of the National Gallery in Prague and the West Bohemian Gallery in Pilsen. In 1973 the Klenov Gallery lost its independence and became part of the District Museum in Klatovy. The gallery's acquisition and exhibition activities were limited at that time, and there was a lack of professional staff. However, there are bright spots in the history of the gallery that are worth remembering. One of them was the legendary exhibition of Maxmilián Pirner in 1979, prepared by Roman Prahl, and another was the opening of a permanent exhibition of the painter Vilma Vrbová-Kotrbová and her husband, the restorer František Kotrba, in the Kotrba couple's villa (1976, closed in 1989). In the area of acquisitions, it is worth mentioning the purchase of a large group of important artists of the then middle generation in 1987 and 1988 (J. Sopko, I. Ouhel, M. Rittstein, V. Novák, J. Sozanský, V. Bláha, F. Hodonský and others) on a scale and quality unparalleled in the Czech Republic. This achievement then foreshadowed the gallery's activities after 1989.

Chateau

The current Galerie Klatovy / Klenová was created in direct connection with the November 1989 events. At that time it was possible to "carve out" the ground floor of the house No. 149/1 on the Klatovy square, where the exposition of the city museum on the history of the workers' movement was located, and to organize an exhibition of photographs from the November demonstrations. In the same spirit was the second exhibition, which presented photographs from the Soviet occupation in 1968. As other events followed, which were already of a purely artistic nature, it was decided that the exhibition activity in these premises would take on an official character. The connection with the gallery at Klenová Castle, which at that time was part of the museum, proved to be a suitable solution. An independent institution was created with the new name of Galerie Klatovy / Klenová, which came under the new founder - the Ministry of Culture.

Galerie U bílého jednorožce

First and foremost, the new management of the gallery had the task of stopping the gradual decay of the Klenová castle, in which woodworm had appeared, and the conservation of the castle's torso. The latter is an almost continuous work that has continued from the 1960s to the present day. The Klatovy Gallery at the White Unicorn has also undergone modifications. Initially, only the ground floor and the first floor were used for exhibitions; over time, the underground with interesting cellar spaces was modified, and in 1992 the second floor was added. In the spring of 2008, a gallery café was opened on the ground floor, where openings and lectures are held.

The Granary

After its reorganization, the gallery has changed its concept drastically. The outdoor exhibition of sculptures was removed from Klenová, which was dominated by artists who were in thrall to the previous regime, and the outdoor spaces were supplemented with sculptures by top Czech artists (e.g. J. Róna, J. Seifert, M. Kotrba). As the exhibition spaces grew (currently Klenová Castle, the castle, the granary, the purgatory, the prismatic tower), the exhibition programme also gained in variety. The gallery began to focus on contemporary art and tried to make its activities international, which included mainly Slovakia and Italy, where cooperation with important curators and artists was established (at that time a reciprocal exhibition from the gallery's collection was held in Saló, Italy). It also concentrated on the art of Czech exiles, organising international symposia, alternately student and adult. In 1991-1994 she organized the famous series of exhibitions Grey Brick (curated by Helena Hrdličková). These were representative salons of the work of living artists that were unparalleled in their time. Each edition had a different focus, the most distinctive being the last one, which featured artists in exile. It was the first and so far only attempt to map this area. The Gallery regularly purchased and managed to acquire unique works of classic Czech modern art, especially from the period after World War II (Kolíbal, Janoušek, Palcr, Sekal, Karlíková, etc.). In addition to exhibitions professionally secured from its own resources, the gallery cooperated with the most important Czech curators (Jaromír Zemina, Jiří Zemánek, Jiří Valoch, Mahulena Nešlehová, Jana and Jiří Ševčík).

Collaboration with primary art schools in the form of the Animation educational programme and exhibitions of the best works of their pupils, and with art colleges again with the presentation of artworks of their best students.

In recent years, the gallery has made more attractive tour routes of the castle grounds available to the public and is seeking further renovations and thus a wider offer to the public.