"Cultural foundations", program for saving historical monuments and building new buildings

Raluca Turcan, the Minister of Culture, announced that the Government approved, last week, through a memorandum, a new investment program, "Cultural Foundations", which we proposed for saving historical monuments and building new buildings, with cultural destination. Turcan added that the investments will be made from funds contracted from the Development Bank of the Council of Europe and from national funds. The total net cost of the proposed project is estimated at 262 million euros (including project administration). To this, are added the related fees and taxes, levied on the territory of Romania, according to the document approved in the Executive meeting.

The Minister also said that the approved project, prepared together with the Ministry of Finance, means the following investments: the construction of a new building for the "Grigore Antipa" National Museum of Natural History, in Bucharest; the complete restoration and modernization of the Romanian National Opera in Bucharest and the construction of a scenery warehouse; the restoration and arrangement of the "Constantin Brâncuşi" National Museum, from Târgu-Jiu; the restoration of the Batthyaneum Library in Alba Iulia, a branch of the National Library of Romania; the consolidation, restoration and arrangement of the headquarters of the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest; partial interior restoration and restoration of some installations at the Romanian Athenaeum; the restoration and development of the Queen Maria Villa from Mamaia, Constanţa county, and the related land development; restoration and enhancement of the domain (house-museum, chapel and annexes) from Tescani, Bacău county - "Dumitru and Alice Rosetti-Tescanu-George Enescu" Section of the "George Enescu" National Museum; - the consolidation and restoration of the Samurcaş House within the Museum of the Romanian Peasant; the restoration and enhancement of the Museum of the Cucuteni Archaeological Site - the "Moldova" National Museum Complex in Iasi; the consolidation, restoration and arrangement of the Villa of the architect Paul Gottereau - cultural space of the National Institute of Heritage in Bucharest; the restoration and arrangement of the National Museum of Transylvanian History, Cluj-Napoca; - the consolidation, restoration and arrangement of the headquarters of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund, in Bucharest". Raluca Turcan added that the investments will be made from funds contracted from the Development Bank of the Council of Europe and from national funds. According to the memorandum with the subject agreement in principle regarding the contracting of a loan from the Development Bank of the Council of Europe for the "Cultural Foundations" project, which aims to save historical monuments and build buildings with a cultural purpose: "Currently, they are being implemented through the specialized structure of the Ministry of Culture, three projects financed within the framework of three loans contracted by Romania, from the Development Bank of the Council of Europe (BDCE), in a cumulative amount of EUR 410.4 million, whose objectives are the restoration and reconstruction of some classified as historical monuments of national importance and buildings of cultural interest. Of these, the consolidation and restoration works for 13 historical monuments have already been completed (including the Palace of Culture in Iasi, the National Art Museum - Royal Palace, the "Vasile Alecsandri" National Theater in Iasi, the "Grigore Antipa" National Museum, the Blue House - Sibiu, the Museum of the Romanian Peasant, etc.), as well as the construction and/or rehabilitation works of the National Theater «I.L. Caragiale" - Bucharest, of the National Library and the Hungarian Theater in Cluj", the memorandum shows. The quoted source also says, that "the cultural sector is still in urgent need of investments, especially in the case of large-scale constructions in a precarious state and impossible to finance from non-reimbursable sources due to the limitation of the amount that can be accessed and/or due to the cumulative failure to meet the conditions required by the applicant's guide". The project was also announced by the spokesperson of the Government, Mihai Constantin.