Czech arts collector, patron Meda Mladkova dies at 102

Czech arts collector and patron Meda Mladkova has died

PRAGUE -- Meda Mladkova, a Czech arts collector, patron and historian who was an impassioned promoter of Frantisek Kupka and supported artists in communist Czechoslovakia while she was in exile behind the Iron Curtain, has died. She was 102.

The Kampa Museum, a modern arts gallery that Mladkova created in the heart of Prague, announced she died on Tuesday.

“Meda, although she lived a large part of her long life abroad, was always a great patriot and loved the Czech nation,” the museum said.

“All her life she believed in the idea: ‘If culture survives, the nation will survive,’” said Jiri Pospisil, the chairman of the museum’s board.