Since the appointment of Slovak Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova, from a nationalist party, nothing is going well at the Slovak National Museum. In the summer of 2024, the minister fired director Alexandra Kusà. What followed was a succession of interim directors. In a letter addressed to the minister, signed by the heads of the museum’s departments, Jaroslav Ninaj, the current director, is accused of leading an unstable management policy and a hostile working environment. The employees described for Euronews their first meeting with the director as being “ full of intimidation and threats”generating frustration and general demotivation. They demanded the appointment of a titular director capable of creating and maintaining stable working conditions.
Jaroslav Ninaj is therefore the third interim director appointed by the Minister of Culture since the summer of 2024, after the dismissal of Alexandra Kusà, in office for ten years and ousted for accusations of political activism. A professional filmmaker, he succeeds Anton Bittner, financial sector expert (August 2024), and Milos Timko, former executive in the food industry (Sept.-Oct. 2024). These profiles, very far removed from museum management, are the result of a politicization of cultural institutions by the ministry and “manifest incompetence in their management” according to employees.
The cultural policy of conservative Prime Minister Roberto Fico, back in power since 2023, and of Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova has been the subject of numerous controversies in recent months, for their nationalist ideology, advocating the “defense of traditional values » from Slovakia.
This crisis raises questions about the future of the Slovak National Gallery. The museum was established by the Slovak authorities in 1948, when the territory was still part of Czechoslovakia (a state formed in 1918 and composed mainly of Czechs and Slovaks), shortly after the territory was liberated by Soviet and American forces, following the Nazi occupation. Czechoslovakia divided into two independent states in 1993: The Czech Republic and Slovakia. Located in the center of Bratislava, the Slovak capital, the Slovak National Gallery was established as a traditional museum of local and European art, with a focus on contemporary creation.
