The government will discuss the contract for the purchase of land for the museum in Opava

Prague - Minister of Culture Lubomír Zaorálek (ČSSD) will present a proposal to the government on Monday for the purchase of land and buildings that are to serve as the central depository of the Silesian Museum (SZM). They are located in the village of Holasovice in the Opava region, near Opava, where the museum is based. The estimated value of the above-threshold public contract is nearly 13 million crowns excluding VAT.

The Silesian Museum is a contributory organization of the Ministry of Culture and the oldest public museum in the territory of today’s Czech Republic, with its history dating back to 1814. It is also the third largest museum in the Czech Republic with its 2.4 million collection items.

According to the accompanying report, the purchase of the land would resolve the spaces for the new central depository of the Silesian Museum, which will serve for the storage of its collection fund. The building in Holasovice-Loděnice is seven kilometers from the city edge, in good technical condition, and on its premises, there is another building that will serve the Department of Photodocumentation and Digitization of the SZM, whose workplace is currently in a facility burdened by restitution.

The museum deals with many fields of human activity, its interests range from both living and non-living nature through prehistory and history to the history of art, especially in the area of Czech Silesia, northern and northeastern Moravia.

Currently, it manages six exhibition buildings and complexes. In addition to the Historical Exhibition Building in the center of Opava, these include the Arboretum Nový Dvůr in Stěbořice, the Memorial of the Second World War in Hrabyně, the Memorial of Petr Bezruč on Ostrožná Street in Opava, the Area of Czechoslovak Fortification Hlučín-Darkovičky, and the Cabin of Petr Bezruč in Ostravice.