The aim of the lawsuit by Mucha Plocková is an agreement on the placement of the Slav Epic

Prague - The lawsuit filed by Jarmila Mucha Plocková aims to enforce an agreement between the heirs of the painter Alfons Mucha and Prague regarding the placement of the famous cycle of paintings "Slav Epic." Mucha Plocková's attorney, Zuzana Císařová, informed journalists today before the first court session regarding the filed lawsuit. The court will reconvene for further evidence on May 27. Recently, the city agreed with another heir of the painter, John Mucha, who had been involved in a similar long-standing dispute with the Prague magistrate over the ownership of the paintings.

The dispute with John Mucha revolved around the claim that according to the heir's lawyers, Prague never owned the canvases because it failed to fulfill the painter's condition to build dignified spaces for the canvases. Mucha initially lost the dispute, but the Supreme Court subsequently returned the matter to the beginning, and in 2020, the painter's heir succeeded at the first-instance court.

Following that, both parties reached a settlement, with the city agreeing to place the canvases in the planned Savarin commercial complex by Wenceslas Square. It is unclear whether this will actually happen, but according to Mucha's lawyer, František Vyskočil, it does not change anything about the agreement. "We are here somewhat out of obligation, for us the matter is concluded," the lawyer said today in court.

The main reason for filing the lawsuit, according to Mucha Plocková, is her fundamental disagreement with the placement of the paintings in Savarin. "I am convinced that Prague is obliged to build a separate pavilion for the epic," she stated today. She also criticized that although she supported Prague in the previous dispute, its representatives did not approach her during the negotiations about the placement of the paintings. She said she is not interested in acquiring the canvases for her ownership. Her lawyer Zuzana Císařová added that a desirable court outcome would be a binding judicial settlement among all three parties, which could include a commitment regarding the placement of the epic.

Císařová's legal argument is that the paintings were owned by Mucha and subsequently, since Prague did not fulfill the donation condition, they passed to the heirs. At the same time, Prague still had the opportunity to build an exhibition hall and legitimately acquire ownership of the canvases, but according to the lawyer, the current issue is that today's Prague is not the universal legal successor of the original royal capital and its obligations, including the donation contract for the epic, did not transfer to it.

Prague has long rejected the claim that the paintings were owned by Mucha since the previous dispute. According to the city lawyer Roman Felix, the actual owner based on historical documents was the industrialist Charles Crane, who ordered the canvases and donated them to the city. The question of how much the current Prague is a successor to its previous legal forms is, according to him, not relevant at this time. "I think that is completely irrelevant; that is for a completely different court dispute," he said.

The cycle "Slav Epic" consists of 20 large canvases that Mucha painted over a span of 18 years starting in 1910. Upon completion, he donated the work to Prague on the condition that it would build him dignified exhibition spaces, though he did not set a deadline. Since 2021, the canvases have been lent to the castle in Moravský Krumlov; the deputy mayor of Prague, Jiří Pospíšil (TOP 09), recently stated that he plans to propose extending the loan for another five years.