Students protest against the sale of St. Michael's Church

Prague - Students from art history programs at several Czech universities are protesting against the sale of St. Michael's Church in Prague's Old Town, which was carried out by the National Library last year. On Tuesday, May 30, they plan a public protest starting at 12:00, during which they want to march from the aforementioned church to one of the Ministry of Culture's offices at Maltese Square and to the Government Office. Many experts and educators have already protested against the church's sale with a petition.
The National Library sold the church last year in its capacity as its administrator, with ownership resting with the Czech state. A court case regarding the sale took place this week. The anti-corruption organization Pink Panther filed a lawsuit seeking to declare the purchase agreements invalid and proposed that the court determine that the state is the owner of the property. The court dismissed the lawsuit. The judge justified her decision by stating that the non-governmental organization is not the owner of the property and therefore cannot seek a legal determination of ownership.
The library sold St. Michael's Church last year for 46 million crowns to a company that had previously rented it. The association claims that the sale price was very low. According to an expert opinion, the building's value was approximately 173 million crowns, as stated in the lawsuit. The justification for the sale, based on the library's need for funds to repair another monument, lacks logic according to the Pink Panther. Additionally, the company Michal Praha has an opaque ownership structure, the association added in the lawsuit filed last November.
Therefore, the students now say they will continue their protests "until the government designates a relevant state institution that will file a lawsuit to determine that the owner of the church is the Czech Republic."
Currently, students, along with many experts from the fields of art history, heritage conservation, and church officials, have been pointing out for several years that St. Michael's Church is a primary artistic-historical and archaeological monument located in the very center of the urban heritage reserve, which is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
The contract concluded between the library and the church's tenant for 30 years, which would have expired in 2029, was established during the previous leadership of the National Library and under the Ministry of Culture of Pavel Dostál. The Pink Panther also challenges the fact that both state entities approved invoices to the tenant for reconstruction work amounting to nearly half a billion crowns without verifying the work performed. The police acted similarly when they shelved a criminal complaint filed by the association, as stated by the Pink Panther.
The investments made actually prevented the termination of the contract between the National Library and the tenant - in the event of termination, the library, or rather the state, would have had to compensate for the value of the reconstruction, which it itself acknowledged. The former director of the National Library, Vojtěch Balík, advocated continuing the lease, which reportedly cost him his position after 14 years of leading the institution. Balík's successor, Vlastimil Ježek, sold the church six months after taking office last April, and the Ministry of Culture approved the sale in July.