Repairs to the Mánes building are ongoing, but the foundation promises that they will be completed in time

Prague - The reconstruction of Mánes, which was supposed to be completed this June, has not continued for several weeks now. The reason is a lack of funds and the resulting disputes in the management board of the Foundation of Czech Fine Arts, to which this significant modern architectural monument belongs. Three board members were dismissed, against which they are defending themselves with a lawsuit. The new chair of the management board, Petr Siegl, however, told CTK that the foundation is negotiating a loan with banks and the reconstruction should be completed as planned, or with approximately a three-month delay.
     The long-planned repair of Mánes began last year, with the state covering approximately 150 million, a third of which the foundation planned to cover from its own resources. Additional funds were being sought from sponsors and also from European sources. Three years ago, the foundation was negotiating a sponsorship donation of 100 million with the then CEO of ČEZ, Martin Roman.
     However, the foundation's management board did not reach an agreement with Roman, as he demanded a majority on the management board. Milan Bufka, then the director of the Gallery of the Capital City of Prague (GHMP), joined the board as Roman's person. When the agreement with Roman fell through, the management board called for Bufka’s resignation, but he did not comply.
     The foundation ultimately wanted to take a loan from the bank, with the Mánes building serving as collateral. However, this is not permitted by law. Due to the alleged violation of the law, the statute, and the ethical code of the foundation during the loan negotiations, the management board dismissed its leadership in November. The chairman Martin Pavala, vice-chairman Petr Hejma, and board member Ivan Prokop were dismissed. They were immediately replaced by former GHMP curator Karel Srp, who, according to Pavala, takes care of Roman's art collection, and National Gallery restorer Petr Kuthan. The post of chair of the management board was taken over by artist Petr Siegl.
     "Our dismissal fundamentally undermined the trustworthiness of the foundation in the eyes of the bank, and the negotiations of the new management board regarding the loan were unsuccessful. The new management board has also not been able to come to an agreement with Skanska to this day, so they had no choice but to suspend the reconstruction," Pavala told CTK. According to Pavala, the dismissal came without reason and at a time when the loan had already been prepared in cooperation with lawyers.
     One option for securing the Mánes was, according to him, a temporary exclusion from the foundation's assets. It was planned to transfer Mánes to the company Apella fine arts, which was established by the foundation in 2009 and whose members of its current management board have been on its bodies since last December. From January 1, 2014, a new foundation law will come into effect that will allow the foundation to secure loans with its assets; at that time, Mánes was supposed to be returned.
     Dismissed board members say that the director and attorney of the foundation knew that the foundation could not legally guarantee the loan with its assets. The director of the foundation refers to the management board. Its chairman says that fundraising is a "living matter" and believes that construction will soon continue. CTK was unable to obtain a statement from Milan Bufka, but on Wednesday he said on Czech Radio that in addition to negotiating with banks, the foundation will also try to approach Prague to see if it would like to get involved in the project. The dismissed members of the management board, according to him, initiated the reconstruction without having secured its financial coverage. However, those affected deny this, and Skanska also states that it did not find financing for the construction to be risky at the time the reconstruction began.