Employees of MUO want the resignation of Minister Staněk due to SEFO

Olomouc/Prague - Several dozen employees of the Museum of Art in Olomouc today called for the immediate resignation of Culture Minister and former Olomouc Mayor Antonín Staněk (ČSSD) in an open letter. The reason is the situation surrounding the construction of the Central European Forum (SEFO) in downtown Olomouc, for which the government recently allocated 600 million crowns. The Museum of Art has long had a SEFO project prepared by architect Jan Šépka, but the ministry, in its role as the museum's founder, decided to hold an architectural competition instead. According to his spokesperson, Staněk is prepared to defend his position, and his competency is a matter for the government and the prime minister.

"It is not for the ministry to assess or evaluate whether the arguments of the participants are sound and credible. The issue of trust and competency of the minister is exclusively a matter for the government and the prime minister," spokesperson Martha Häckl said to ČTK today. "If it turns out that the minister's approach, which calls for a transparent public competition for a new museum building at the cost of 593 million crowns from public sources, from which the best proposal is to emerge, is a misunderstanding of the situation, he is ready to critically defend his position on the matter before the government, the Chamber of Deputies, and the public," the spokesperson added.

The open letter from the employees of the Museum of Art demanding Staněk's resignation is addressed to both the culture minister and Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO). "Culture Minister Antonín Staněk deliberately denigrates the Museum of Art Olomouc with his actions, escalating tensions and uncertainty within it. He intentionally insults representatives of professional organizations, respected experts, and responsible museum employees whose opinions do not suit Minister Staněk," states the open letter published today by the museum's management.

Employees of the Museum of Art accused Staněk of arrogant behavior, which they believe was recently reflected in the wording of Tuesday's press release from the ministry of culture. It concerned a panel discussion titled "SEFO and the Legitimacy of Architectural Competitions for Public Buildings in the Historic Space of the City." The discussion took place in Prague, and the museum's management claims it was not invited to the event.

SEFO, which the museum has been planning for over ten years, is intended to capture the post-war development of visual arts in Central Europe. The project includes the construction of a building in a gap next to the Museum of Modern Art. The new central depository is designed to accommodate up to 200,000 artworks; the museum currently owns 90,860 collection items with a market value of around two billion crowns. However, after taking office, Culture Minister Staněk decided that a competition needed to be held for the construction of SEFO. Recently, many experts who supported Šépka's proposal voiced objections to his plan. The competition is to be prepared by the beginning of April.

Since mid-February, there has been an economic audit at the Museum of Art. Under the management of Michal Soukup, around forty museum employees expressed concern in February over unsubstantiated information regarding a possible dismissal of Soukup. This represented nearly half of all employees. Today, by 1:00 PM, more than sixty employees of the Museum of Art had signed the call for Minister Staněk's resignation. "More signatures are coming in," said museum spokesman Tomáš Kasal to ČTK.

Museum director Soukup told reporters today that he only discussed SEFO with Staněk last September. "He clearly declared that he intended to organize an architectural competition. However, we did not have any dialogue about it," Soukup stated. According to him, he only received a task from Staněk to announce the competition. Soukup noted that 600 million crowns will be invested in the construction of SEFO. He believes that Staněk is now preparing reasons for his dismissal. "Our indications are, and they point towards audits and other inspections, that this institution (Museum of Art) will be controlled by another director who will be able to make decisions regarding these financial resources in some way," he opines.