The owner of the land for the museum is requesting the Edelmann Palace

Olomouc - Entrepreneur Miroslav Barnet demands compensation for his land under the future Central European Forum in Denisova Street, which is to be part of the Museum of Art, regarding the Edelmann Palace on the Upper Square in Olomouc. This was stated today by Deputy Mayor Hana Kaštilová Tesařová (ČSSD) to journalists. The city hall now must have the palace appraised and convene an extraordinary council meeting regarding its potential sale.
    The Museum of Art needs to submit the project for the Central European Forum to the Ministry of Culture by the end of March to compete for funding from the EU. The Central European Forum is expected to cost up to 900 million crowns. However, the project cannot be submitted without clear ownership relations to the land.
    Mayor Martin Novotný (ODS) emphasized that a condition for the sale of the Edelmann Palace is the payment of the difference between the price of the land in the gap on Denisova Street and the price of the historic building. This could amount to tens of millions of crowns. Another requirement from the city hall is that the palace be sold only when it is certain that the Museum of Art will succeed with its project, acquire European funding, and build the Central European Forum. “We want to address this with agreements on future contracts,” explained Novotný.
    Entrepreneur Barnet is a co-owner of the Haná Real Estate Agency, the Varna restaurant and disco, and the Timpo department store. He is involved in about ten companies.
    The Museum of Art has already acquired six of the seven necessary plots for the Central European Forum. In June 2008, the institution was ceremoniously established in the presence of ministers and state secretaries from the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia, and two months later it became apparent that the museum was unable to acquire the last plot.
    The museum's director, Pavel Zatloukal, then announced that the owners had unreasonable demands. The Nácar couple, on the other hand, claimed that they were more concerned about the principle than the price. Both parties were willing to accept a price of seven million crowns for just under 400 square meters. The dispute revolved around the share in cash and alternative real estate. While the Nácar couple wanted six million in cash, the museum offered them 5.4 million. Ultimately, they sold their plot to Barnet. “At that time, it was not possible to exceed the limits of cash. They were based on strict rules from the Ministry of Finance,” Zatloukal told ČTK today.
    The Central European Forum is intended to serve as a counterbalance to another component of the Museum of Art, which is the Archdiocesan Museum. In addition to visual arts, it is to focus on chamber theater and film and to have an extensive library. According to Zatloukal, however, it is still possible that this Central European unique feature may ultimately not be established in Olomouc. In that case, the 16th-century Edelmann Palace would remain with the city.
    In the past, the city hall sold, for example, the Salm Palace and the house U Černého psa on the Upper Square. Both properties were, according to the mayor, in poor condition, which cannot be said about the Edelmann Palace. The nearly adjacent Salm Palace cost 51 million crowns.