The General Director of the National Gallery will be Alicja Knastová

Prague – Alicja Knastová from Poland will be the new Director General of the National Gallery in Prague (NGP). The name of the selected candidate was announced today by Minister of Culture Lubomír Zaorálek (CSSD). In the final round of the selection process, gallery director Marek Pokorný from Plato Ostrava and Jiří Fajt, who had already served as the director of NGP for five years, were also in the running.

The gallery had temporary leadership for a year and a half due to the sudden dismissal of NGP director Fajt last year. In April, Fajt was dismissed by then-Minister of Culture Antonín Staněk (CSSD) along with the director of the Olomouc Museum of Art Michal Soukup. Both were dismissed citing economic misconduct, and a criminal complaint was filed against them. The police later dropped both complaints, and the Czech Republic apologized to Fajt for his dismissal from the position of NGP director. Staněk appointed economist Ivan Morávek to lead NGP after Fajt's dismissal and announced a selection process for Fajt's successor.

New Minister Zaorálek canceled the competition announced by Staněk upon his arrival at the Ministry of Culture, dismissed Morávek from his leadership role at NGP, and entrusted the management of the gallery to Anne-Maria Nedomá, the wife of the director of the Rudolfinum Gallery, Petr Nedomy. In April, he then announced a selection process.

In August, candidates went through the selection process, which involves assessing candidates' conduct in various model situations, testing teamwork skills, or taking psychodiagnostic tests. Meanwhile, their proposals, which they submitted to the commission, were sent by the ministry to several consulted foreign experts from the Vienna Albertina, the Paris Centre Pompidou, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.