In 1735, Duke of Courland Ernst Johann von Biron bought land in Rundāle with an old medieval castle in the territory of a planned summer residence.

Johann Michael Graff produced lavish stucco decorations for the palace during this time.

Ernst Johann von Biron loved the palace and moved there almost immediately in 1768.

His young widow, Thekla Walentinowicz, a local landowner's daughter, married Count Shuvalov, and the palace passed into the control of the Shuvalov family, with whom it remained until the German occupation in World War I when the German army established a hospital and a commandant's office there.

The palace was dealt a serious blow after World War II, when a grain storehouse was set up in the premises in addition to the school.

In 1965 and also in 1971, the Supreme Soviet of Latvian SSR decided to restore Rundāle Palace.

[1] Latvian painter and art historian Imants Lancmanis became director of the new museum and restoration of the palace became his life's work.