The Romanian Government has managed to raise EUR 562,117 by mid-August for the famous sculpture Cumintenia Pamantului (Wisdom of the Earth) by Constantin Brancusi. This means that Romanians have made donations of over EUR 200,000 in two weeks, as the total amount raised at end-July was some EUR 361,000.

However, the EUR 562,000 represents less than 10% of the EUR 6 million the Romanian Government needs to raise by end-September. Romania has agreed to pay EUR 11 million for the sculpture to its current owners, with EUR 5 million coming from the state budget and EUR 6 million from donations.

Romanians have donated almost EUR 123,000 on the fundraising campaign’s website, some EUR 50,000 on eMag.ro, almost EUR 350,000 by wiring money into the Culture Ministry’s accounts, and EUR 39,508 via text messages.

In the coming period, Romanian painter Adrian Ghenie is to donate the value of one of his paintings for this campaign, Culture Minister Corina Suteu announced on her Facebook page.

Moreover, “the National Theater in Bucharest will open the autumn season with a performance dedicated to the Cumintenia Pamantului campaign, all the money raised from ticket sales being donated to the campaign’s accounts, and several private companies have announced their intention to support the acquisition of Brancusi’s sculpture by donations,” reads the Facebook post.

Those interested in contributing to the campaign can donate on the campaign’s dedicated website brancusiealmeu.ro, via text message at 8833, via bank transfer, or by “virtually buying” the sculpture on emag.ro, the biggest local online retailer. The campaign officially started on May 19 and ends in September.

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Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com