The Slav Epic

[1][2] Prior to 2012, the work was a part of the permanent exhibition at the chateau in the town of Moravský Krumlov in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic.

He had dreamed of completing such a series, a celebration of Slavic history, since the turn of the 20th century; however, his plans were limited by financial constraints.

In 1909, he managed to obtain grants by an American philanthropist and keen admirer of the Slavic culture, Charles Richard Crane.

[5] He began by visiting the places he intended to depict in the cycle: Russia, Poland, and the Balkans, including the E. Orthodox monasteries of Mount Athos.

[2] Following the Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948 and subsequent communist takeover of the country, Mucha was considered a decadent and bourgeois artist, estranged from the ideals of socialist realism.

[2] On 25 July 2010, over a thousand people gathered in Moravský Krumlov to protest the planned move of The Slav Epic from the town.

[15] After a two-year dispute between Prague and the Moravian town of Moravský Krumlov, the renowned cycle of 20 monumental canvases was—in a move protested by conservationists and art historians alike—taken for display at the National Gallery's Veletržní Palace in 2012 and remained there until the end of 2016.

[17] The exhibition combined two opposing worlds of renowned Art Nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha's works – the majestic Slav Epic and a unique collection of posters.