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photo: Firefighters of the Czech Republic

Prague – The Kampa Museum, which was damaged by a fire in mid-July, will reopen to the public again on Saturday morning. Visitors will be able to view the exhibition of works by Alphonse Mucha and Pasta Oner, as well as the permanent exhibition of František Kupka. Jiří Pospíšil, the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Jan and Meda Mládek Foundation, informed about this on Facebook today. According to him, the repair of the museum will take several more months.

Smoke from the fire in the electrical wiring primarily damaged the upper floors of the museum, including the depository, on July 15. Pospíšil had previously stated that the damage to the building exceeds ten million crowns and the damage to the works affected by smoke is about two to three million crowns. No artwork was destroyed in the fire, but approximately two-thirds of the works from the foundation's collection were affected by the greasy smoke produced from the air conditioning burning, according to Pospíšil.

Financial aid for the restoration of the artworks was promised by Minister of Culture Lubomír Zaorálek (ČSSD). After visiting the museum at the beginning of last week, he stated that the state could provide a few million crowns.

According to Pospíšil, it will be necessary to repurchase and install all air conditioning and technical equipment in the museum's facilities. "We still have a long way to go before the Kampa Museum is restored to its original condition before the fire," he stated today on Facebook.

The future museum building was acquired by Prague from the state in 1997, and collector Meda Mládková rented the Sova Mills from the city for 99 years. The collection includes over 220 paintings and drawings by František Kupka, 16 sculptures by Otto Gutfreund, and more than 1000 works by Czech and Slovak artists from 1965 to 1985. Before his death in 2002, prominent Czech poet, artist, and art collector Jiří Kolář donated his collection to the Mládek Foundation.