<p>Press: The Central European Forum in Olomouc is unlikely to be established</p>

Olomouc - Central European Forum, a new modern cultural center in Olomouc, will most likely not be built. The controversial building, which divided the Olomouc public mainly due to its futuristic appearance, will not receive the necessary half-billion grant from European funds. This was decided by the Ministry of Culture yesterday. This is reported today by the mid-Moravian edition of Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD) and the Olomoucký deník.
   "This project did not pass. We must first inform the applicants of the reasons, so we will be able to discuss specific points in two or three days," said MfD spokesman for the Ministry of Culture Stanislav Brunclík.
    Workers from the Museum of Art spent four years preparing the Central European Forum project. The grand center was to be built in a gap on Denisova Street. Within the walls of the architecturally daring building, modern artistic works from all over Central Europe were to be exhibited, and the back part was to include a garden with sculptures and archaeological finds, and the museum was also to include an international research center. The museum was to open in 2013. This date was even ceremoniously confirmed in Olomouc by the ministers of culture and experts from all Visegrad Group countries.
    The Museum of Art did not want to comment too much on the decision of the selection committee for now. "We had information that we were not the only applicants, that there were other projects being evaluated. It is a competition, a tender like any other and part of the official notification will certainly include the Ministry's reasoning for this decision. Until then, it makes no sense to speculate on what will happen next," quotes the newspaper the spokesman of the Museum of Art Olomouc, Petr Bielesz.
    Six institutions applied for funds from the Integrated Operational Program, in which only a fraction of the originally promised seven billion crowns remained after many months of delays. The selection committee preemptively excluded three of them due to failure to meet the conditions. Of the remaining three, only the Museum of Art was unsuccessful. The total grant amounting to 384 million crowns will be divided between the Josef Viewegh Foundation, which wants to build a glass art center in Sázava, and the National Heritage Institute can also count on funds for the National Center for Theatre and Dance project.
    The Ministry hinted on its website that there were not enough funds available in the program for the expensive Central European Forum.