Replacement for the land for the Central European Forum is being sought by three regions

Olomouc - In three regions, state officials are searching for land that could be offered as compensation for the disputed plot for the future Central European Forum, which is to be established in the Olomouc gap on Denisova Street as part of the Museum of Art. Jana Vohralíková, the director of European projects at the Ministry of Culture, said this to ČTK today. The problem with acquiring the last of the five plots for the Central European Forum project, which costs 500 million crowns, escalated last week when the current owners did not sell it to the Museum of Art but to the Olomouc businessman Miroslav Barnet. The Central European Forum is meant to serve as a counterbalance to another part of the Museum of Art, which is the Archdiocesan Museum.
    According to Vohralíková, compensation for the new owner is being sought in the Olomouc, Zlín, and South Moravian regions. "At the same time, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Finance, and the State Property Management Office are intensively negotiating over the land. We are looking for property that could be offered as a material compensation," Vohralíková stated.
    The Central European Forum, established in June this year in Olomouc by the ministers and state secretaries of the Visegrad Group countries, needs the entire current gap for construction. However, the Museum of Art has so far managed to purchase only four of the five elongated plots. The last one was intentionally not sold to the museum by the Nácar couple recently. The new owner, Olomouc businessman Miroslav Barnet, reportedly wants to exchange it for the former Zenit complex, which he is renting. According to Vohralíková, this is no longer possible. "It is a closed matter. When Zenit was on the table, when it was offered, no one wanted it. We exchanged it for two other plots; it is already a closed story," Vohralíková said.
    The Ministry of Culture wanted to partially cover the price of seven million crowns for the disputed plot of 395 square meters in cash, partially through an exchange for another property. However, the officials were unable to agree with the former owners, the Nácar family, on the ratio of cash to the price of the substitute property. Moreover, the ministry considers the limit of around 17,000 crowns per square meter to be non-negotiable.
    While previously the ministry spoke of the end of summer or September as the latest deadline for acquiring the plot and submitting the project, Vohralíková now only mentioned the year 2013, when the current EU programming period ends. "Although it is a well-prepared project, the physical project documentation could not even be commissioned yet, because the plot is unclear," Vohralíková stated.
    In addition to collections of visual art, the Central European Forum is to focus on chamber theater and film. It is also to have an extensive library. It aims to collect artworks from 1945 onwards from the Visegrad Group countries, Austria, and Germany.