Former MUO director Michal Soukup will receive a Polish award

Olomouc - Former director of the Museum of Art, Michal Soukup, who was dismissed from his position in April by the then Minister of Culture Antonín Staněk (ČSSD), will receive a Polish award for his exceptional contribution to the development of cultural cooperation between Poland and the Czech Republic. He will be awarded by Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, the museum informs on its website. Soukup will accept the award on Monday at the Polish Embassy in Prague. He is receiving it, among other reasons, for significant exhibition projects that the museum has prepared both domestically and abroad in collaboration with Polish partners.

"I take this as recognition of the work of the entire Museum of Art, which has been trying for a long time to present not only Polish art but also the culture of Central Europe through the Central European Forum project. This was also demonstrated by the international project Broken Time, traveling through all V4 countries, which would not have happened without key Polish cooperation,” said Michal Soukup, who is now the deputy director of the museum.

The Olomouc premiere of the exhibition project Broken Time was personally launched last September with a concert of his world-renowned work Credo by the Polish composer and conductor Krzysztof Penderecki, who, at Soukup's suggestion, decided to donate the score of Credo to the Archbishop's Music Archive in Kroměříž. Consequently, the archive will become the only one in the Czech Republic that can boast of Penderecki's work. "We are immensely pleased with Krzysztof Penderecki's decision to donate the score of Credo, one of the most significant spiritual works of the 20th century, to the Kroměříž music archive. Thanks to this, the unique collection, which includes works by such giants as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Pavel Josef Vejvanovský, and Ludwig van Beethoven, will also expand to include contemporary sacred music. It is an extraordinary moment for us,” added museum director Ondřej Zatloukal.

The Museum of Art has been collaborating with the Polish side for a long time. An example is last year's extensive exhibition titled Abstrakce.PL, showcasing Polish abstract painting from 1945 to the present. Artifacts were loaned to Olomouc by private collectors and significant Polish institutions. Museum representatives labeled it as the first comprehensive exhibition of this kind in the country. "At the same time, I am very glad that our collaboration continues. Next year, we will present a work by the prominent Polish painter and graphic artist Jan Pamuła at the Museum of Art,” added Soukup.