The artwork in the Kampa Museum is assessed by restorers

photo: Firefighters of the Czech Republic

Prague - Restorers at the Kampa Museum, part of which was affected by a fire on Wednesday, are evaluating whether the artworks will need cleaning. None were destroyed in the fire, but smoke entered the building. Museum spokesperson Jana Pelouchová told ČTK today that damage to the museum's technical facilities is being assessed, where the air conditioning has been significantly damaged. On Friday morning, the museum will hold a press conference where the institution's management is expected to announce whether and when it will be possible to reopen the museum to the public.

"We are doing everything possible to ensure that this fire does not devastate us. The Kampa Museum has survived floods, the coronavirus, and I hope that with your help, it will also survive this fire," said Jiří Pospíšil, chairman of the board of the Jan and Meda Mládek Foundation, on Facebook today.

In the technical room of the Kampa Museum on U Sovových mlýnů street, electrical installations were on fire on Wednesday. According to Prague councilor Jan Chabr (TOP 09), damages to the air conditioning and electrical installations will amount to tens of millions of crowns. Pospíšil stated on Wednesday that he is grateful to the firefighters for saving the building and its valuable collections but wants to start negotiations with Prague, which owns the building, so that the museum can be partially reopened as soon as possible.

Prague acquired the future museum building from the state in 1997, and collector Meda Mládková rented the Sovovy mlýny from the city for 99 years. The renovation of the former mills was accompanied by disputes over the glass cube on the staircase tower, which heritage protectors did not allow, but Mládková insisted on. Its placement was permitted by the then Minister of Culture Pavel Dostál. The conversion of the mills into a museum cost 107 million crowns, funded by both the city and the foundation.

The building was reconstructed for the collection of the Mládek couple, which the collector decided to donate to Prague. According to closed contracts, Prague lent the donated collection to the Mládek Foundation and allowed it to use the Sovovy mlýny for 99 years.

The collection includes over 220 paintings and drawings by František Kupka, 16 sculptures by Otto Gutfreund, and over 1,000 works by Czech and Slovak artists from 1965 to 1985. Before his death in 2002, significant Czech poet, artist, and art collector Jiří Kolář donated his collection to the Mládek Foundation.

The museum was to be ceremoniously opened in September 2002, but the opening was postponed due to the flood. The building was flooded up to the first floor, but the water did not damage the collections. At that time, the Sovovy mlýny were not protected by flood barriers. The city hall of Prague 1 did not consider protecting the reconstructed area of the Sovovy mlýny from a hundred-year flood when planning the route for flood barriers. It was anticipated that it would be flooded. However, its overall reconstruction was designed and carried out to withstand high water, or at least to allow the water to flow through without destroying the structure. The museum opened with a one-year delay on September 8, 2003, on the day of the Mládeks' birthday.