National Technical Museum has third director in a week

The National Technical Museum in Prague has a new director - in fact, it has its third new director in the space of a week. Oldřich Rambousek resigned from his post on Thursday, only seven days after he was given the position by the Ministry of Culture. Now the office has been filled by a new temporary director to oversee the running of the multi-billion crown institution and an audit looking into missing money and exhibits.

Horymír Kubíček

The original director of the National Technical Museum, Horymír Kubíček, had been in office for three years when the new Minister of Culture dismissed him last week, apparently due to accusations of improper management of state funds – i.e. increasing his salary several times over with unwarranted bonuses. The job was then given to the museum’s financial director, Oldřich Rambousek. He however came to Culture Minister Jiří Besser on Thursday morning saying he wanted out of what the ministry described as a complicated situation. The museum, he reportedly said, was in a dismal state that the ministry had not rectified in spite of years of requests. And furthermore, Mr Rambousek said that under the current conditions he was unable to guarantee that Mr Kubíček, who still works in the institution, would not continue to hold sway over its management. Minister Besser thanked him and granted his resignation.

The daily Mladá fronta Dnes however reports a twist in the tale. It has accused Mr Rambousek of doing exactly the same thing his former boss was suspected of – enriching himself from the museum’s budget. A forensic audit by Ernst & Young is to begin next week while at the same time an internal audit, overseen by Transparency International, is already underway; Mr Kubíček has said he is certain that these investigations will prove that their management of the museum’s property was more than adequate.

For the time being, the ministry has installed Tomáš Wiesner, currently the head of its department of museums and galleries, to direct the Technical Museum until a new director is chosen through selection proceedings.

The 102-year-old organisation cares for nearly 60,000 technical artefacts in addition to vast collections of archives, photographs and designs – all of which is reportedly insured for some 60 billion crowns. It’s premises at Letná have been closed for nearly four years now as it undergoes an expensive, multi-phase reconstruction.