She takes up her duties from January 1, 2021 for a six-year period.
She told the Polish Press Agency that the most important issues during the COVID-19 pandemic are the accessibility of art collections and how to attract young people to visit a gallery - as it is this young audience that will decide how this segment of culture will develop 20 years from now.
Czech Minister of Culture Lubomír Zaorálek said of Knast: “She demonstrated fine managerial skills and a clear vision of the National Gallery [in the context of] the best galleries and museums in the world.”
The outgoing director of the Prague gallery, Anne-Marie Nedoma, welcomed Knast’s appointment, saying: "This is very good news, both for the art-loving public and for the gallery's staff. She is an experienced manager who can connect people and at the same time has all the prerequisites to continue to move the National Gallery among institutions of truly international importance."
Founded in 1796, the National Gallery in Prague is the largest and most important art institution in the Czech Republic. It is Europe’s second oldest institution of its kind, after the Louvre in Paris.
Knast, 47, studied musicology at the University of Poznań, western Poland. She worked at the National Museum in Poznań and the Chopin Museum in Warsaw.
From 2014 to 2020 she was the director of the Silesian Museum in the southern Polish city of Katowice.
(mk/pk)