Slovak National Uprising Museum to be placed under MOD's remit and to form part of Institute of Military History

Today (5 May 2021), Culture Minister Natália Milanová and Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď have signed a memorandum on the Slovak National Uprising (SNP) Museum Banská Bystrica being taken out of the remit of the Culture Ministry and integrated into the Institute of Military History under the remit of the Ministry of Defence. The Act to make this happen will come into force at the beginning of 2022. The change is directed towards creating favourable, higher quality conditions for gathering, processing, scientifically restoring, protecting, using and displaying exhibits from military collections and documentary and archival resources.

The SNP Museum has so far fallen under the remit of the Ministry of Culture. “From the perspective of the Ministry of Culture, this means a logical integration of the two institutions that are so close in their field specialisation, and I am convinced that this will give a new impulse to the further development of both institutions,” said Culture Minister Natália Milanová, noting that this move had been approved by the Museums and Galleries Council, an independent body of subject matter experts. “However, the SNP Museum's Digitalisation Centre and the SVK National Exposition at the Auschwitz - Birkenau Museum in Poland will remain under the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture,” said Minister Milanová.

Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď said: “The Ministry of Defence perceives this step through which a highly significant cultural institution at the heart of the Slovak National Uprising stronghold in Banská Bystrica will be placed under its “wings” as a powerful commitment towards the public and towards our important history, its legacy and, of course, its protagonists. We will do our utmost to make sure that the joint scientific and specialist potential is used to the benefit of advancing military history as a science and military museum and archiving studies in Slovakia.”

Following the signing of the memorandum, an interministerial group made up of subject matter experts from the MOD and the MOC is to convene in order to prepare and to implement the merger. As part of this process, the SNP Museum Property Inventory and Legal Audit Reports will be issued. Subsequently, an (Amendment) Bill on museums and galleries and on protection of artefacts of cultural heritage, which will see the establishing authority being transferred from the Ministry of Culture to the Ministry of Defence, will be submitted to Parliament for approval.