Brno will pay 450,000 crowns for Skácel's verses on the new fountain

Brno - Brno will pay 450,000 crowns for the verses of Jan Skácel, which should adorn the new fountain in Brno's Svobody Square. The amount has been agreed upon by the city leadership and the legal representative of the poet's widow and copyright heiress, Božena Skácelová. The payment still needs to be approved by the city councilors. CTK was informed about this by the spokesman of the magistrate, Pavel Žára.
The city had the verses etched into a bronze grate, which is to complement the new large fountain in Svobody Square starting in September, without addressing the issue of copyright. The media brought attention to the problem. Mayor Richard Svoboda previously admitted that the officials who decided on the placement of the verses four years ago neglected this question.
Subsequent negotiations regarding the additional compensation were complicated by the high amount demanded by Skácelová's legal representatives. It was said to reach up to three million crowns, or ten percent of the total price of the fountain. Skácelová asserted at the time that she was not motivated by money, but her legal representatives argued for the fulfillment of copyright law.
The new fountain will have a diameter of 15 meters - a ten-meter ring will be created by the grate with the verses, beneath which lit water will flow. The center of the fountain, a one-meter high cylinder with a diameter of five meters, will offer several modes - from a calm surface reflecting the square to water disturbed by bubbles, a surface quietly overflowing over the edge, up to jets spraying steadily or intermittently to a height of one meter. The placement of the new fountain is part of a major reconstruction of Brno's central Svobody Square for approximately 180 million crowns.

---

> The city of Brno still does not have rights to the verses adorning the fountain
> The first stone of the new pavement will be laid in Brno's Svobody Square
> The councilors proposed to increase the cost of repairs for Brno's Svobody Square
> The center of Brno is changing its face; three main squares will be renovated