The Prague City Hall is still looking for a place for the Slav Epic

Prague - The Prague City Hall is still searching for a location to house the Slav Epic. Currently, it is evaluating spaces that belong to the capital. Hana Třeštíková, the councilor for culture (Prague Together), informed the Czech News Agency (ČTK) of this. The city is also negotiating with the owners of the castle in Zbraslav and with Moravský Krumlov, where the paintings were displayed from the 1950s until 2011. The cycle of paintings consists of 20 large canvases that Mucha painted from 1910 for another 18 years and dedicated them to Prague. Since 2010, the epic has been a cultural monument. The paintings are now in storage at the Gallery of the Capital City (GHM).

"We are examining spaces for both short-term and long-term use," said Councilor Třeštíková. She did not specify which city buildings were involved. Representatives of the City Hall and GHM also began negotiations with the owners of the castle in Zbraslav. There used to be a permanent exhibition of the National Gallery there. The castle was regained by the Bartoň family from Dobenín in restitution. If the paintings were to be displayed there, among other things, the local parking lot would have to be expanded. On the other hand, the canvases would not be endangered by a potential flood. In the past, a thousand-year flood reached the basement of the castle, and therefore flood barriers have now been built in Zbraslav.

A dispute among municipal politicians arose from the intention of the Prague leadership for the paintings to be returned to Moravský Krumlov until the city found a permanent location for the canvases. A condition for the loan would be that Moravský Krumlov create suitable construction-technical and climatic conditions for the work. This plan was criticized at the May meeting of the City Hall's Culture Committee by representatives of ODS and ANO, among others, as well as the committee chairman Jan Wolf (KDU-ČSL).

Most recently, in May, the Town Hall of Prague 2 joined the discussion about the placement of the paintings, stating that it wants to create exhibition spaces for the Slav Epic in the dilapidated Vyšehrad train station. Prague 2 has been long trying to acquire the Art Nouveau train station building into its ownership.

In the past, the city planned to construct a separate pavilion for the paintings. Proposals included a new building in Letná behind the Ministry of the Interior or in Těšnov. The previous leadership of Prague last planned to convert the Lapidarium at the Exhibition Grounds and place the epic there.

The first 11 canvases of the epic were exhibited in 1919 at the Klementinum in Prague and achieved success at exhibitions in New York and Chicago from 1920 to 1921. The entire epic was first exhibited in 1928 at the Veletržní Palace in Prague, and the paintings came under the administration of the Gallery of the Capital City of Prague. In 1933, the canvases were rolled up and stored away. It was not until 1963 that they were exhibited again at the castle in Moravský Krumlov. However, after 1989, the castle, which had previously housed a railway school among other things, fell into disrepair.

Alfons Mucha was born on July 24 in Ivančice and died on July 14, 1939, in Prague at the age of 78.