The Deputy Director of NPÚ has become Pavel Jerie

PRAGUE - Pavel Jerie was appointed today to the position of chief conservator and deputy director of the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ), which was vacated on Tuesday by Josef Štulc. This is stated on the institute's website. Jerie has been working in this institution, or its predecessor, the State Institute for the Care of Monuments, since 1969. Recently, he served as the deputy chief conservator and represented Aleš Krejčů, who was responsible for managing the NPÚ, before the changes in the institute last December.
The fifty-nine-year-old Jerie is also a member of the advisory board of experts at the heritage department of the Prague City Hall. He is a founding member of the Society for the Protection of Monuments Technology and supervises extensive heritage sites such as the Estates Theatre, Rudolfinum, the Municipal House in Prague, and the castle and castle theatre in Český Krumlov.
Štulc's dismissal has sparked negative reactions among heritage preservation experts, who believe that the new leadership of the NPÚ sees Štulc as an advocate of a too conservative approach to heritage preservation. The advisory board of the NPÚ director largely consists of architects or people close to the Czech Chamber of Architects, which has its own concept of heritage preservation. This includes proposals to which preservationists and art historians have significant objections. However, the appointment of Pavel Jerie is perceived by heritage professionals as a compromise solution.
"The dismissal of Josef Štulc is a fatal mistake; Doctor Štulc is not only one of the most important figures in our heritage preservation but also holds weight on a European scale. His dismissal is a sign that (NPÚ director) Hájek will be removing all people who understand the field better than he does. But soon he will be left there alone," said art historian Mojmír Horyna, a former chairman of the scientific council of the Minister of Culture for heritage preservation, head of the Institute of Art History at Charles University Faculty of Arts, and prorector of this school, to ČTK.
Sixty-two-year-old Štulc is the chairman of the Czech committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), part of UNESCO. In the 1990s, he was the director of the institute but fell into conflict with the then Minister of Culture Pavel Dostál.
"The National Heritage Institute is undergoing a transformation, which also has personnel aspects," Hájek said on Tuesday regarding the reason for Štulc's dismissal. According to him, Štulc's dismissal is part of an overall change in the strategy of heritage preservation. Štulc, an internationally recognized expert, refers to himself as an "advocate for monuments." He warned against the impacts of extreme liberalism and commercialization on cultural heritage.