One hundred employees of the Slovak National Gallery declared that they could not continue working under the new management appointed by Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová, according to Euractiv.
About 40 per cent of the staff, including department heads and curators, are expected to leave Slovakia’s flagship cultural institution by April. The employees also said the appointment of Jaroslav Niňaj as the gallery’s third director in six months jeopardised the safety of valuable artworks.
We are no longer willing to work in an environment where laws are violated, where public finances are handled questionably, and where seasoned experts become victims of the Ministry of Culture’s purposeful decisions.
The crisis had already begun to spread outside the country. However, the Ministry of Culture stated that “even in the event of personnel changes at the gallery, the stability and continued operation of the institution will be secured and there is no risk of the National Gallery collapsing.”
In January, three foreign museums ceased co-operation with the National Gallery, citing concerns over the safety of loaned artworks. Tatra Banka, the gallery’s largest private sponsor and part of the Raiffeisen banking group, also ended a seven-year partnership earlier this month.
The change in the country’s cultural leadership affected major institutions such as the Slovak National Theatre, the Slovak Literary Centre and the Slovak National Museum, as well as the reform of public broadcasting.
Last year, thousands of people protested in Bratislava demanding Šimkovičová’s resignation, with nearly 200,000 people signing a petition calling for her dismissal.
