Car ride service Uber has also joined the fundraising campaign the Romanian Government launched in mid-May this year to raise the necessary money to buy Constantin Brancusi’s famous sculpture Cumintenia Pamantului (Wisdom of the Earth) from its current owners.

Until September 16, each Uber user who takes a ride to the BNR Museum to see the sculpture will contribute to the campaign, as the company will donate half of the trip’s value to the Ministry of Culture.

Cumintenia Pamantului was moved to the BNR Museum on June 10 this year. The Uber users who want to see the sculpture will have to book a visit by September 16 (visiting conditions here). Then, they have to call an Uber car via the car ride service’s app, setting BNR Museum as the destination. The equivalent of 50% of the trip’s value will go to the campaign.

Moreover, Uber invites the entire community of riders and partner drivers to make a difference and donate EUR 2 by sending a text message to 8833, with the text: “Brancusi e al meu,” reads a statement from Uber.

“Brancusi is mine is much more than a fundraising campaign, it’s an opportunity for us to show that we are a community sharing the same values. We are over 100,000 riders and partner drivers on the Uber platform - 100,000 possible donations which, only together, can make a difference ” said Nicoleta Schroeder, General Manager Uber Romania.

The Romanian Government has agreed to pay EUR 11 million for the sculpture. While EUR 5 million will come from the state budget, the Ministry of Culture needs to raise the remaining EUR 6 million by end-September from donations. So far, it has raised little over EUR 0.5 million.

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