Experts objected to the announcement of the competition for the Olomouc SEFO

Olomouc - More than ten architects and representatives of universities have protested in a petition against the intention of the Minister of Culture Antonín Staněk (ČSSD) to announce a tender for the construction project of the Central European Forum in Olomouc (SEFO). The signatories are asking the minister not to insist on the tender and to open the way for a project that architect Jan Šépka had developed back in 2009. He proposed to fill the gap in Denisova Street with a building of a futuristic appearance. The establishment of an exhibition of Central European art for approximately half a billion crowns has been planned for over ten years.

Šépka developed the design of SEFO at the suggestion of the former director of the Museum of Art, Pavel Zatloukal. According to the signatories, this happened after Zatloukal was unable to reach an agreement with the Czech Chamber of Architects on feasible conditions for a public architectural competition. "Šépka's project corresponds to Professor Zatloukal's vision of a museum institution that will provide access to the best results of Central European art and architecture of the post-war era to interested parties from around the world, thus becoming a museum without an equal in all of Europe," states the petition available to ČTK.

The signatories, including architectural historian Rostislav Švácha, architect Josef Pleskot, and the rector of the Fine Arts Academy Jindřich Smetana, do not deny that public architectural competitions are appropriate for such buildings. However, they are convinced of the exceptional value of Šépka's project. They fear that by announcing a competition, his work will be forever lost. "Jan Šépka's project meets the requirements of heritage conservation for the contextuality of the new building within the urban heritage conservation area and features timeless qualities that have not diminished in artistic relevance even nine years after the project's inception and four years after its modifications," states the petition addressed to the minister.

Representatives of the Museum of Art do not wish to comment on the minister's step. According to museum spokesman Tomáš Kasal, Minister Staněk has tasked the museum's director with organizing the architectural competition for the SEFO project. "Director Michal Soukup is currently working intensively on this in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture. The competition should be prepared by the beginning of April. We are now preparing a tender for an administrator, dealing with the composition of the jury, and mainly preparing the tender conditions," Kasal told ČTK today.

The SEFO project was confirmed by the signatures of representatives from the Visegrád Group countries in 2008 in Olomouc. The architecturally bold building was to exhibit modern works from all over Central Europe, and the back part was to include a garden with sculptures as well as archaeological finds; the museum was also to feature an international research center. The new central depository is to hold up to 200,000 works of art, while the museum currently owns 90,860 collection items with a market value of approximately two billion crowns.

The construction of the forum for 543 million crowns has been planned for over ten years. The museum has failed twice to obtain European subsidies and is now relying on funds from the state. Last year, the project was included in the Cultural Heritage Care Program. It is one of the most ambitious post-war projects in Czech museology.