The competition for the head of NPÚ goes to the second round, there are three finalists

Prague - The Ministry of Culture has announced the finalists for the competition for the position of General Director of the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ). Among the three candidates invited to the second round is Zdeněk Novák, a long-time high-ranking employee of the ministry and former "one-day" director of the NPÚ. Information on the progress of the competition can be found on the ministry's website.
    The other candidates proceeding are Naděžda Goryczková and Václav Novotný. However, the ministry did not provide any details about them and does not want to disclose the composition of the selection committee yet, supposedly due to potential influence. Ten applicants applied for the competition, but ministry spokesperson Jan Cieslar did not disclose the names of the unsuccessful candidates to ČTK.
    Current NPÚ director Pavel Jerie offered his resignation to the minister as of November 1 in June. According to ČTK information, the ministry was looking for Jerie's successor, for example, among some other directors of its contributory organizations. For instance, Horymír Kubíček, the director of the National Technical Museum, Karel Ksandr, the deputy director of the National Museum, rector of AMU Ivo Mathé, or architect Ivo Koukol were approached. Only when nobody accepted the offer did they announce the competition.
    The application deadline was October 31, and the commission selected the three candidates on Tuesday. It is unclear when the minister is expected to appoint the director, but they should take office on January 1. The candidates' concepts are also not known; for example, during the recent selection of the director of the Czech Philharmonic, the ministry published the intentions of all competition participants.
    If Novák were to become the director and the minister appointed him in December, it would be exactly three years after he was appointed to the same position by the then-minister Vítězslav Jandák (ČSSD). However, after just one day, he was dismissed along with ten directors of regional NPÚ offices, triggering a storm in heritage care.
    Václav Novotný was the director of the Prague Information Service (PIS) for 17 years; last year he did not pass the competition announced by the city for the director's position. Goryczková is the director of the NPÚ regional expert workplace in Ostrava; she deals with modern architecture, is a co-author of several publications from the Famous Villas series that focuses on modern and contemporary architecture in various regions of the Czech Republic.
    Jerie wanted to resign because he allegedly had no chance to "get the institute together and make organizational changes." Last year, Jerie proposed a change to the NPÚ statute that would allow for the reorganization of the institute—often described by critics as a "colossus" with many employees, which notably has organizational work reserves. However, the ministry only signed the new statute at the end of September 2007, but by then it had ordered the audit and suspended preparations for reorganization.
    No reorganization was to be prepared at the NPÚ until the audit was completed. The ministry allocated 1.5 million crowns for it, and its results have been available since February of this year. However, they are confidential. Today the ministry says it does not want to publish them so that the new director may work with them.