The Culture Palace in Blaj

the culture palace in blaj The Culture Palace in Blaj was awarded the EU Prize for Cultural Heritage.

Dubbed "the Little Rome", the town of Blaj, in central Romania, is known for its special place in history when it comes to acknowledging the Latin roots of the culture and language of the Romanians in Transylvania. This is the place where the first school in Romanian was established and also home to the famous Transylvanian School, a group of Romanian intellectuals who militated for the emancipation of Romanians in Transylvania. Besides that, another cultural society, ASTRA, is closely tied with Blaj. The Palace of Culture was built for the benefit of this association, in the historical centre of the town, on the very ground where the house of the famous scholar Timotei Cipariu used to stand, as the Director of the Tourist Information and Promotion Center Ciprian Vestemian told us:


"It was designed in the 1930s by the Romanian architect Victor Smigelschi, the son of painter Octavian Smigelschi, from Bucharest. The building was aimed to host events initiated by the ASTRA Cultural Association. The building of the foundation started on September 1936 on the celebration of Astra Blaj's 75th anniversary. The then Prime Minister and members of the Government attended the ceremony, alongside King Carol the 2nd and his son, the future king Mihai. In the inter-war period, the palace hosted various major cultural events, as it served as both a theatre and cinema hall. Between 1936-1963 it also hosted, on the upper floor, the History and Ethnography Museum, the town library and even a cable radio centre. In 1948, the building was taken over by the state and was renamed the Horea, Closca and Crisan People's Athenaeum. In 1992, the Government returned the Culture Palace to the Metropolitan Bishopric, and it was further used as a cinema hall.


In 1995, a devastating fire destroyed a great part of the building, with only the outer walls and part of the rooms on the first floor still standing after the disaster. After the Municipality of Blaj bought the Culture Palace from the Greek-Catholic Metropolitan Bishopric, restoration works began in 2013, based on a project that observed the original architecture of the building. Speaking about that, here is Ciprian Vestemian once again:


"The architect wanted first and foremost to retain the initial shape of the building. Unfortunately, that was not entirely possible, because the outer walls, weekend by the fire, could no longer support a new structure. Therefore, four new structures were erected, which were so very well inbuilt, that only a very experienced eye could detect them. In fact, there are four new pillars supporting a ceiling which is very interesting, as it is partially made of glass, and therefore lets natural light in.  It is a multifunctional space. The upper floor areas were especially conceived for offices and were totally refurbished. New rooms were created for actors and artists."


So successful were the restoration works that, not long ago, the Culture Palace in Blaj was awarded the EU Prize for Cultural Heritage. Speaking about that, here is Ciprian Vestemian once again:


"On April 5th this year, the European Commission and the Europa Nostra Foundation announced the winners of the EU Prize for Cultural Heritage. It is an honour for us to have been awarded the highest European heritage distinction in the preservation category, thanks to architect Vlad Sebastian Rusu, who supervised the restoration of the Culture Palace in Blaj. The jury acknowledged the quality of the project emphasising the fact that the administration of Blaj has successfully managed, through minimum interventions, to revive the lost architecture of the historical buildings that were in ruins, only by adding essential structures and structural elements. With no demolition at all, heritage vestiges were successfully put to good use."


The prize has already brought specific major benefits through the promotion of the Culture Palace and Blaj as a cultural destination. The number of tourists in "little Rome" is already on the rise. 



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Publicat: 2017-05-27 14:05:00
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