<Motýli na Máji mají povolení do srpna, majitel budovy požádá o prodloužení> <Butterflies in May have permission until August, the building owner will apply for an extension>

Prague - The owner of the department store Máj on Národní Street in Prague has permission to install moving butterflies on the facade until August of this year. A request for an extension of this period will be submitted to the relevant authorities in the summer. Karel Samec, the media representative of the building's owner, told ČTK this. The butterflies, several meters long, with bodies resembling a Spitfire fighter plane, have mechanical flapping wings.

According to their author, artist David Černý, it is a tribute to Czechoslovak fighter pilots who served in the British Army during World War II. The work was installed on the facade on May 18 and 19 last year. It evoked mixed reactions from the public and experts.

"The butterflies by author David Černý have a valid permit for placement on the Máj facade until August of this year. The owner of the building expects to submit a request for an extension of this period to the relevant authorities during the summer," Samec stated. He already mentioned in March that the author supports the continuation of the installation.

Last week, the request was discussed by the culture committee of the Prague city hall. "We were asked by the building owners if we would express our opinion on the proposal to extend the permission. We clearly stated that we would not be taking any position on this. That is the task of the state administration, the monument care department. We do not want to interfere politically, as that is really not our role; this is a professional matter," said the committee chairman Jan Wolf (KDU-ČSL) to ČTK.

He added that he had requested the city company Prague City Tourism to comment on how tourists react to the work. "They stated that it has added value for tourism, that it expands tourist interest beyond the Royal Route and is a kind of attraction. I honestly say I have no problem with that. I like the butterflies, but that is my opinion, not the city's opinion," Wolf added.

One of the critics of the work was the civic association Club For Old Prague. The chairman Richard Biegel described the butterflies as an example of typical kitsch. Last year, he pointed out that the monument care department of the Prague city hall approved the intention, despite the fact that the National Heritage Institute rejected the sculptures.

The department store at the corner of Spálená and Národní was built on the site of the neo-Gothic Šlik Palace, according to a design by Miroslav Masák, John Eisler, and Martin Rajniš from the Liberec studio SIAL, founded in 1968 by the author of the Ještěd transmitter Karel Hubáček. Máj opened its doors to customers on April 21, 1975. In 2006, the Ministry of Culture declared the building a cultural monument.

In May 2022, a comprehensive reconstruction of the building costing 4.5 billion crowns began, and the department store reopened to customers on June 24 last year. Now, Máj offers shops, restaurants, and an interactive exhibition across nine floors. In February, the real estate investment fund Realita, managed by the company ATRIS, announced the purchase of a decisive stake in the company owning the department store Máj. The transaction value was not disclosed. Until then, Máj was owned by Amadeus Real Estate, which, according to earlier information from the Seznam Zprávy website, has the same ultimate owners as the ATRIS fund, the brothers Václav and Martin Klán.