The owner of the Mánes transferred the building to another company in order to obtain a loan

Prague - The Foundation of Czech Fine Arts, which owns the Prague building of Mánes, temporarily transferred this significant monument of Czech functionalism to the company Apella Fine Arts, which it established in 2009. The transfer of the foundation's property is a condition for obtaining a bank loan that the foundation wishes to use for the reconstruction of Mánes. The information was confirmed today by Petr Siegl, the chairman of the foundation’s board, to the E15 news server.
    The long-planned renovation of Mánes began last year, with the state contributing approximately 150 million crowns, of which the foundation planned to cover one third from its own sources. The foundation was also seeking additional funds from sponsors and European sources, but this did not go according to plan. Last year, the foundation wanted to take out a loan from the bank, with the Mánes building serving as collateral. However, the law does not allow for this. The only option for securing the Mánes was its temporary removal from the foundation's assets. A new foundation law will come into effect on January 1, 2014, which will allow the foundation's assets to be used as collateral; at that time Mánes will return to the foundation's assets, Siegl said today.
    The reconstruction of Mánes was supposed to be completed in June this year, but according to current plans, it should last at most until the end of this year. The construction company halted work in January due to unclear further financing of the construction and disputes within the foundation's board.
    Due to alleged violations of the law, the statute, and the ethical code of the foundation during the loan negotiations, the board of the foundation dismissed its leadership in November. Chairman Martin Pavala, Vice-Chairman Petr Hejma, and board member Ivan Prokop were removed. They were immediately replaced by former curator of GHMP Karel Srp and restorer of the National Gallery Petr Kuthan. The post of chairman of the board was taken over by artist Petr Siegl.
    In February, the chairman of the Mánes Association and descendant of the building's architect, Tomáš Novotný, reached out to the foundation regarding the suspension of the renovation. The association had commissioned the construction of the functionalist building in the 1920s. However, after 1989, it lost the building after years of legal disputes. Nevertheless, according to Novotný, the fate of the building is not indifferent to the association. "We already expressed concerns before the reconstruction began that the building might fall as collateral to someone who would lend the remaining amount for its renovation," he says. However, he has not received any response to his letters from the foundation to this day.