Prague, Sept 1 (CTK) – The National Gallery in Prague (NG) has appealed the court verdict under which it has to return the valuable 14th-century Gothic panel painting of Madonna of Veveri, enjoying the status of national cultural heritage, to the Catholic Church, NG spokeswoman Tereza Jezkova told CTK yesterday.
The dispute started after the NG had refused to release the painting to the church by virtue of its application submitted within the property settlement between the state and churches.
“The NG believes that throughout the critical time the state was and still is the rightful owner of the painting,” the NG press release said.
In August, the Prague 1 district court ruled that the NG had to release the painting to the Catholic parish in Veverska Bityska, south Moravia.
The NG disagrees with the verdict.
The NG says the church has failed to unambiguously prove its former ownership of the painting. It said the state had acquired the painting before the communist coup in 1948, which is the church restitution deadline.
However, the court disagreed with this opinion.
The Catholic Church argues that there is no document from the mid-18th century until 1958 to prove that the church lost the artifact.
The church has proved that the painting is its property and at the same time that the restitution law applies to it, the court ruled.
The NG is also to pay some 82,000 crowns to the church to cover the costs of legal representation.
This suit might become a precedent for similar cases. The number of such lawsuits, filed by the church, may be rising.
According to the restitution law, churches are to be returned land and real estate worth 75 billion, stolen from them by the communist regime, and given 59 billion crowns plus inflation in financial compensation for unreturned property during the following 30 years. Simultaneously, the state will gradually cease financing churches.
The Catholic Church will get most of the total sum, or 47.2 billion crowns plus inflation.
($1=24.098 crowns)
