New cultural promises: facelifting Romania’s museums

In a year when no one knows for sure how many people in the cultural field have lost their jobs and how many cultural outlets are going to survive the pandemic, the Culture Ministry has continued to make promises of supporting the local cultural scene. Several museums across the country have started to work on facelifts and upgrades, all due to be completed in 2021.

By Oana Vasiliu

Major upgrades

The Omnia library in Craiova, Dolj County, will go through a major restoration, according to recent statements by officials in the Culture Ministry. The library owns approximately 30,000 volumes from various fields: literature, literary history and criticism, linguistics, history, sociology, medicine, philosophy, art, sports, geography, management and marketing, economics, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a collection of periodicals. The building that hosts the Library, known as the Plesia House, is considered to be an architectural landmark, being included on the Historical Monuments List. Built in 1890 based on a project by French architect Albert Galleron, it is one of Craiova’s most impressive buildings. It features an eclectic style, with Neo-Classical and Neo-Baroque interior elements, with stained glass windows in the style of the Romanian School, with geometric and floral motifs, an interior staircase and baroque hardware, gold-plated ceilings, Venetian mirrors, and carved panels.

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New openings

Though it’s been more than 30 years since the Romanian Revolution, no museum has been dedicated to this event until now. This is about to change, however, as Timisoara is going to host the National Museum of the Anti-Communist Revolution – presenting the entire communist period as well as the Revolution itself. Recently, an additional investment of EUR 15 million has been approved for the project by the Council of Europe Development Bank, according to Agerpres.

The Culture Ministry will also finance the development of the Timisoara National Theatre’s decoration factory, a unique endeavour in Romania, which will design decors for any cultural institution in the country, following an investment of RON 5 million. Furthermore, the theatre will open a second hall and will receive an additional RON 30 million from the authorities.

Preserving heritage

Sighisoara’s Historical Center, which is currently a UNESCO heritage site, recently finished studies related to the Medieval Citadel restoration project – developed by historians, archaeologists, and landscape architects. The documentation serves as part of the international auction which, for the first time in Romania, will be held according to regulations used in UNESCO and International Union of Architecture (UIA) architectural competitions, for a complete restoration of the citadel.

Another heritage building in Sighisoara, the Monastery Church, is currently under restoration and will only be finished next summer, due to the pandemic crisis. So far, the costs have reached EUR 1 million, with the money being provided by the Evangelical Church.