National Taiwan Museum signs sister agreement with Czech museum

Taipei, Sept. 22 (CNA) National Taiwan Museum (NTM) in Taipei and the National Museum in Prague signed an agreement to establish a sister museum relationship on Thursday, enabling the two sides to cooperate more closely on research and exhibition exchanges in the future.

The agreement was inked by NTM Director Hung Shih-yu (洪世佑) and Michal Lukeš, director of the National Museum, and witnessed by Culture Minister Lee Yung-te (李永得) and visiting Czech Senator Jiří Drahoš.

Cultural exchanges between the two countries are to be further strengthened with the establishment of a cultural section under Taiwan's representative office in the Czech Republic (Czechia) early next year, the minister said.

In addition, the Central European country will organize a festival to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Bedřich Smetana in 2024, and musicians from Taiwan have been invited to take part in the event, Lee added.

Smetana was a nineteenth century composer who is regarded in his homeland as the founder of the Czech national opera.

When the cultural section in Prague is established in January next year, its first task will be to handle exchanges between musicians from Taiwan and the Czech Republic, Lee explained.

Drahoš, who is currently leading a delegation on a six-day visit to Taiwan, said he looks forward to more cultural exchanges between the two sides.

The National Museum in Prague was established in 1818, and consists of the Museum of Natural Science, the Historical Museum, the Naprstek Museum of Asia, African, and American Cultures, the Library of the National Museum, and the Czech Museum of Music, according to Taiwan's Ministry of Culture.

Thursday's signing ceremony in Taipei was also attended by Radka Wildová, deputy minister of education, and Jana Havlikova, deputy minister for science, research and innovation, who are part of the visiting Czech delegation.