The management of the National Gallery will be taken over by Jiří Fajt on Tuesday

Prague - The leadership of the National Gallery will be taken over on Tuesday by art historian Jiří Fajt. One of the largest collection institutions in the country will thus have a regular director with full powers for the first time in over a year. Fajt was appointed a year ago by the then Minister Alena Hanáková (TOP 09 and STAN). However, her successors postponed Fajt's arrival, leading to numerous speculations about whether he would indeed become the director. The Ministry of Culture confirmed the date of July 1 only today.
A press conference will be held on Tuesday at 14:00 to introduce Fajt to his position at the Veletržní Palace.
The National Gallery was led until April of last year by Vladimír Rösel, who was abruptly dismissed by the then minister Hanáková, known for such actions. In July, at the time when she herself resigned and the entire then government was in a state of resignation, she appointed Fajt as director without competition. She referred to previously conducted competitions, in which he was recommended to the minister for appointment by an international commission. Hanáková's successor Jiří Balvín, minister of the caretaker government, postponed Fajt's appointment and entrusted the leadership of the NG to the director of the Collection of Old Art, Vít Vlnas.
However, the NG had only limited options in certain areas in such a state; for example, the settlement of church restitutions does not continue, as the decision on the return of some movable monuments was made six months ago, but the agreement on the return of the Vyšebrodský altar or two Rubens canvases has still not been signed.
The temporary state in the leadership of the NG also complicated the institution's situation in obtaining funds from non-state sources, which the gallery necessarily has to supplement state grants that decrease year by year. The new director is planning to focus, among other things, on multi-source financing; in interviews before his appointment, he stated that he is already negotiating with foreign partners about certain opportunities to improve the budget of the state contribution organization.
What the gallery's budget will be for next year is still unclear. During the preparation of the state budget, there was a risk that the culture chapter would be cut by a billion, or about ten percent of its expenditures this year. Contribution organizations were warned that their wage resources could be cut by the same percentage. Herman assures them that he is still negotiating the budget amount. Last week he stated that "wages in the cultural sector will not be reduced".