Provider and number: Ministerstvo kultury, NAKI II. DG16P02R004
Duration: 2016–2019
Recitient: Institute of Art History, CAS
Principal investigator: Kristina Uhlíková
Research team: Jitka Císařová, Martin Bakeš, Kateřina Doležalová, Ivo Habán, Dita Homolová, Petr Janák, Iva Korbelová, Jana Marešová, Kateřina Nora Nováková, Jan Uhlík, Petr Zinke
Main objective is to create a specialized public database of the regesta relating to convolutes of cultural assets originally coming from single owner and nationalized under Decrees of the President in 1945 in northern Bohemia. Creating a database that is the only possible way to concentrate the information scattered in archival funds and files will facilitate the identification of origin of items deposited in collecting institutions, NHI funds and offices. Parallel lack of knowledge of provenance of these cultural assets allows for partial utilization of them in the collections of individual institutions only. The project will bring about significant appraisal of many movable cultural items and at least virtually incorporate the original convolutes. Due to its importance, the region of northern Bohemia was chosen for the work within the project as it includes the highest number of cultural assets maintained in the public institutions and nationalized under the decrees. New findings to be made in the creation of mentioned database will apply synthetically and presented by the final exhibition in the Northern Bohemian Museum in Liberec, its critical catalog, international conference and two reviewed articles. This exhibition will be preceded by a traveling panel exhibition devoted to the key issue of castles nationalized under decrees, their original owners and further fortunes of movable content of these objects. Both exhibitions, similarly to other outputs of the project, are planned so as to create a basis of the broadest international dialogue on this theme that still remains a taboo. By documenting activities of persons entrusted with rescue of valuable cultural assets after WWII, this project intends to unveil the part of history of the region of northern Bohemia which remains completely unmapped and its outputs will contribute to the illumination of this period of history of the Czech heritage preservation which still remains unjustly marginalized.
