Crestyl offered to place Mucha's Epic in Savarin for free in Prague

Prague – The company Crestyl has offered the capital city to exhibit the Slav Epic by Alfons Mucha in the under-construction Savarin palace on Wenceslas Square for 25 years free of charge. It also plans to cover the costs of building the space, which would be completed within five years. Operating costs would be covered by ticket sales. Ondřej Micka informed CTK of this on behalf of the company today. The city council has begun negotiations with the company, and specific terms of cooperation have yet to be agreed upon. The placement of the canvases in Savarin has the support of, for example, the culture councillor Hana Třeštíková (Prague for Itself) and the coalition United Forces for Prague (TOP 09 and STAN).

Prague city councillors approved the loan of the canvases for the next five years to the castle in Moravský Krumlov, where they could be moved this spring. The cycle consists of 20 large canvases that Mucha painted over 18 years starting in 1910. The canvases are currently in storage.

"We are coming up with a solution to finally end the entire saga of placing the Slav Epic and fulfill the author's wish. We are ready to cover all costs associated with building the exhibition space, including all internal equipment according to the requirements for presenting such a work, at our expense. Prague would thus bear no initial costs for creating the exhibition, only annual income from the revenues," said Crestyl CEO Simon Johnson.

Entry to the exhibition would be from the courtyard through the planned garden. People could also come through a new exit from the A line metro station Muzeum, which the investor previously promised to build. The exhibition would have an area of 3,500 square meters. The Mucha Foundation would then place a selection of works and artifacts from the family collection here.

Councillor Hana Třeštíková told CTK last week that there is consensus among representatives of the various parties in the council regarding the placement of the paintings in Savarin. "It would be a stable solution that has support across parties," she said. The goal is to ensure that the paintings do not end up back in the storage of the Gallery of the Capital City after their return from Moravský Krumlov, before Prague builds its own exhibition space for them.

The first 11 canvases of the epic were exhibited in 1919 at the Prague Clementinum and in 1920-1921 achieved success in exhibitions in New York and Chicago. The entire epic was first exhibited in 1928 at the Trade Fair Palace in Prague, and the paintings were placed under the administration of the Gallery of the Capital City of Prague. In 1933, the canvases were rolled up and stored in a depository. It was not until 1963 that they were exhibited again at the castle in Moravský Krumlov. However, after 1989, the castle, which previously housed a railway school among other things, fell into disrepair.