Mucha’s Slavic Epic will be located in the Savarin Palace in Prague
Updates: 11.02.2022 12:29
Released: 11.02.2022, 12:29
Prague – The Slavic epic by Alfons Mucha will be located in the Savarin Palace near Wenceslas Square in Prague. The agreement was signed today by representatives of the capital, the Mucha Foundation and Crestyl. She will build the appropriate premises in Savarin for a cycle of 20 canvases. The exhibition will be conceived as a journey through the life of Alfons Mucha, Crestyl spokesman Ondřej Micka told ČTK today. The draft agreement was approved by Prague councilors on January 31.
“By signing an agreement with the Mucha Foundation and Crestyl today, we are launching a litigation process and at the same time reaffirmed our intention not to temporarily trust the Slavic Epic for 25 years in the Savarin project to help us support Prague tourism,” said city councilor Hana Třeštíková ), under his responsibility is culture and tourism in the metropolis. The duration of the lease in Savarin will be 25 years and the capital will have the option to extend the lease once every five years, under the same conditions, unless the city and the developer agree otherwise.
The Savarin project is being developed on a 1.7-hectare plot of land, and after its completion, it should connect Wenceslas Square with Na Příkopě, Jindřiška and Panská streets, according to Micky. A garden is to be created in the middle. He expects the completion date within three years from the start of construction, added Micka.
The construction of the permanent exhibition should be completed within four years of obtaining a final decision on the location of the Savarin Palace building. The zoning decision was issued in March 2020, but has not yet come into force. According to his spokesman, Crestyl undertook to cover all costs with the construction of the exhibition space, including the internal equipment. Premises created according to the design of the architectural studio of Thomas Heatherwick in cooperation with the Mucha Foundation.
The deal should put an end to a long-running dispute between John Mucha and the capital over canvas ownership. After signing the agreement, according to its wording, Mucha had to undertake, within 30 days of signing, to recognize the city’s ownership of the canvases and withdraw its lawsuits. On the contrary, Prague is to undertake not to move the paintings other than its own exhibition spaces intended only for the epic, as the painter Alfons Mucha wished for.
The Slavic Epic, which consists of 20 large-format canvases, is now on display at the castle in Moravský Krumlov. The capital lent it there for five years. According to the mayor of Moravský Krumlov, Tomáš Třetina (TOP 09), the contract is concluded by the end of 2026.
Mucha has been painting the cycle since 1910 for the next 18 years. The painter bequeathed the paintings to the capital on the condition that Prague build a space for them, which has not happened yet. The first 11 canvases of the epic were exhibited in the Prague Klementinum in 1919, and from 1920 to 1921 they reaped success at exhibitions in New York and Chicago. The whole epic was first exhibited in 1928 in the Trade Fair 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 deposited in a depository. It was not until 1963 that it was exhibited again at the castle in Moravský Krumlov. After 1989, however, the chateau, which used to house a railway school, fell into disrepair.