16 million euro restoration for a library

The Batthyaneum Library, home to the most valuable collection of Western medieval manuscripts in Romania, including the Codex Aureus, will be restored with an investment of 16 million euros, announced the Minister of Culture, Raluca Turcan. According to the Minister: "Two days ago, a loan agreement was signed with the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEDB), through which we obtained financing for the restoration of the Batthyaneum Library. The investment is 16 million euros. When we started the negotiation contract with the Council of Europe Development Bank, we asked the National Institute of Heritage to enter the design phase, so that when the financing comes, you can start the works. (...). We have already signed the financing agreement for the design of the restoration of this library. When the design is finished, we can start the execution works". Raluca Turcan mentioned that a mandatory condition of the loan contract with the BDC is that the Library be owned by the Romanian state. She specified that she has followed all the legal steps between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Alba Iulia and the Romanian state and that, at the moment, she has received certifications that there are no pending litigations. "I hope there are no international litigations. We have certifications that there are no such litigations on the restitution of the Library. If the Romanian state remains the owner, I believe that within a year the restoration can begin". The Batthyaneum Library, which has been operating since the 18th century in the former Trinitarian church in Alba Iulia, could not be restored until now, as it is the subject of a legal dispute. The National Authority for Property Restitution rejected, in 2015, the request of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Alba Iulia for the restitution of the Batthyaneum Library building, on the grounds that it had not provided proof of ownership of the building at the time of its takeover by the Romanian state. The decision was appealed to the administrative court. In 2018, the Alba Iulia Court of Appeal rejected the request of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Alba Iulia to annul the decision by which the Special Commission for the Reversion of Real Estate that Belonged to Religious Cults in Romania rejected its request for the restitution of the Batthyaneum Library building. In 2021, the High Court of Cassation and Justice definitively rejected the request of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Alba Iulia to return the Batthyaneum Library building, as well as some movable assets, including the Codex Aureus, which was on the UNESCO List last year. Donated to the Province of Transylvania by Bishop Batthyany Ignac in 1798, together with the building and the related land, the Batthyaneum Library and Astronomical Institute were conceived by the donor as structures with a public character. After the Great Union of 1918, the Astronomical Institute and the Library remained, until their nationalization in 1949, under the administration of the Roman Catholic Episcopate of Alba Iulia, being exempt from taxes and other financial obligations by the Romanian state. Since 1961, Batthyaneum has become a branch of the Central State Library, the current National Library of Romania. The Batthyaneum Library holds the largest collection of Western medieval manuscripts in Romania, including the oldest manuscript of its kind, the Codex Aureus, produced between 805 and 810, also known as the Lorch Gospel. The Batthyaneum also holds the largest collection of incunabula, books published in the second half of the 15th century in Europe, at the beginning of printing.