Zaorálek praised the director of the museum in Olomouc, whom Staněk dismissed

Prague - The former director of the Olomouc Museum of Art, Michal Soukup, and museologist and former employee of the Ministry of Culture, Jiří Žalman, today received the Artis Bohemiae Amicis award (Friends of Czech Art). Minister of Culture Lubomír Zaorálek (Czech Social Democrats) presented them the award for promoting the good name of Czech culture both domestically and abroad at the Ministry of Culture. This information was provided to ČTK by the ministry spokesperson Michaela Lagronová.

Soukup was dismissed last year by the then Minister of Culture Antonín Staněk (Czech Social Democrats) for alleged failure in preparing and managing the project for the construction of the Central European Forum (SEFO). Zaorálek apologized to Soukup after he took office. Staněk dismissed Soukup alongside the director of the National Gallery in Prague, Jiří Fajt. Soukup was accused of allegedly overpriced land purchases, the form of the application for European subsidies, and inconsistencies in the project documents, leading to a criminal complaint against him, as well as against his predecessor Pavel Zatloukal. Zaorálek also apologized to Zatloukal; the police shelved the criminal complaints against the former directors of the Museum of Art, Soukup and Zatloukal.

Soukup was involved not only in the establishment of the Olomouc Museum of Art but also in the creation of the Archdiocesan Museum in Olomouc and Kroměříž, as well as the SEFO project, a long-planned exhibition and building for contemporary art for all of Central Europe. He was the curator of numerous exhibitions both at the Museum of Art and elsewhere. In March 2013, he was appointed the director of the Museum of Art, contributing to many international successes of this institution, the ministry stated today. Among the most significant awards for the museum's activities was the awarding of the European Heritage Label.

The Artis Bohemiae Amicis award was also received today by museum worker Jiří Žalman. He worked for nearly 20 years at the regional museum in Brandýs nad Labem, which, under his leadership, reconstructed several immovable cultural monuments and opened new permanent exhibitions. He worked for several years at the National Museum and in 1990 became a co-founder of the professional civic association Association of Museums and Galleries of the Czech Republic.

From 1991 to 2016, he served at the Ministry of Culture, where he initiated and contributed to the creation of new legal norms for museums, galleries, and the protection of cultural heritage. He is the author of professional publications for museum workers and contributed to solving issues related to asset settlement after the division of Czechoslovakia, as well as initiating a project for the documentation of museum collections.

The Ministry of Culture has been awarding the Artis Bohemiae Amicis medal since 2000. Its laureates include Czech-American visual artist and writer Petr Sís, patron and gallery owner Meda Mládková, artist Jiří Anderle, writer Jiří Stránský, and choreographer Pavel Šmok.