The National History Museum of Romania (MNIR) is getting ready for restoration works that are scheduled to last 5 years. The museum’s general manager told Mediafax that a contest would be launched on February 1 in order to choose the best architecture concept for the future rehabilitation project.
Manager Ernest Oberländer-Târnoveanu stated that EUR 4.6 M are needed for the design, while other EUR 3.4 M expenses to carry on rehabilitation works of one of the museum’s buildings. The manager also added they would ask the Culture Ministry to supplement the grant given to the museum on the regular basis.
So, if all the money are provided, works can kick off and the museum will be closed down for 5 years: the design will take about nine months, two years and a half are needed for the actual restoration work and other two years are needed to prepare the exhibitions, as patrimony works must not be placed in the revamped halls earlier than 6 months.
Ernest Oberländer-Târnoveanu also asked authorities proper spaces continue the exhibitions, eyeing the ground floor of the National Library or the Palace of Parliament. At the same time, the patrimony items also have to be relocated by mid-2017, with locations for storing and laboratories needed.
For storing, a 55,000 cubic meter-area is needed, the museum manager suggesting Casa Presei Libere as a potential storage location.
Oberländer-Târnoveanu informed that after the works are resumed, an exhibition on the MNIR history will be organized and it will be available right at the official opening. If part of the restoration works is done by mid 2018, the museum is planning to host an exhibition dedicated to the centennial of the Romania’s Great Union (accomplished in December 1918).
The future National History Museum will display a covered patio public area unfolding around the copy of the Roman emperor Trajan’s Colum: a public library, a bookshop, relaxation locations, a café.
MNIR is located on Calea Victoriei, downtown Bucharest, displaying Romanian historical artifacts from prehistoric times up to modern times.
With a surface of over 8,000 square meters, the museum has around 60 valuable exhibition rooms. The permanent displays include a plaster cast of the entirety of Trajan’s Column, the Romanian Crown Jewels and Pietroasele treasure, as well as numerous gold Dacian bracelets, Koson-like gold coins, Lysimachos-like Greek gold coins, iron tools and weapons, etc.
The building housing the museum received the green light in 1892, and architect Alexandru Savulescu together with postal inspector Ernest Sturza were sent to tour various postal facilities of Europe for the design. The final sketches were influenced primarily by the postal facility in Geneva. Built in an eclectic style, it is rectangular with a large porch on a high basement and three upper floors. The stone façade features a portico supported by 10 Doric columns and a platform consisting of 12 steps spanning the length of the building.
The museum has been undergoing extensive restoration work since 2012 and it is only partially open even nowadays. The rehabilitation works brought a late medieval archaeological site into the light under the building.