With the decision of several senior employees of the Slovak National Gallery (SNG) to resign in response to the management style of the gallery’s current management the employees of the Slovak National Museum (SNM) express their solidarity. The employees of the Historical Museum and the SNM Museum – Betliar Museum expressed their support in their opinions.
“We perceive resignations stemming from disagreement with the current leadership of SNG and its unprofessional management as a manifestation of personal responsibility and a gesture of protest – rejection of the actions of the current general director of the coat of arms memory institution,” said the staff of the SNM Historical Museum.
At the same time, they emphasized that the outgoing SNG employees are renowned experts, recognized in the pan-European scientific and museum world. “We do not think that these employees will be easily replaced. They are currently irreplaceable in their specialties. With their departure, the SNG loses credit in Slovakia and abroad,” added more than twenty signed employees of the Historical Museum of the SNM in their opinion.
Employees of the SNM – Betliar Museum, members of the civil association Andoras and supporters of the SNM – Betliar Museum also declared their support for the departing colleagues from the SNG. At the same time, they expressed deep concern about the situation in the SNG. “We are horrified by the idea of harassing experts, whose activities up until now have been exclusively for the benefit of Slovak culture, and the fact that the current management of SNG does not know and perhaps does not even want to solve the situation. It harms all residents of Slovakia,” they said in a statement on Monday.
A number of senior employees are leaving the Slovak National Gallery, including the directors of the outsourced SNG workplaces from the Ľudovít Full Gallery, Zvolen Castle and Schaubmar’s Mill. They announced the resignation on Friday in their opinion, in which they state the reason pressure from the current head of the SNG, Jaroslav Niňaj, and the current state of the institution under his leadership. They criticize the institution’s authoritarian management style and lack of interest in dialogue.
