The over 100,000 Romanians who donated various sums of money last year for the purchase of the Wisdom of the Earth (Cumintenia Pamantului) piece by sculptor Constantin Brâncuşi cannot yet receive their money back as the state budget is missing the sums needed to cover the banking and currency conversion fees for the transactions, TVR reported.

A decision of the previous government stipulated that the money would be repaid to the donors if the authorities failed to raise the whole sum needed to buy the sculpture, namely EUR 6 million. However, representatives of the Ministry of Culture told TVR that budget and legislative constraints have prevented this from happening.

The term set for the repayment of the donations is December 31 2017, and budget adjustment could cover the needed fees.

The Dacian Ciolos cabinet attempted last year to buy Wisdom of the Earth for EUR 11 million, allotting EUR 5 million from the state budget for the acquisition and hoping to raise the remaining EUR 6 million via a public fundraising campaign. The campaign only raised some EUR 1.2 million.

Culture minister: Romanian state can exert right to buy Brancusi sculpture each time it is on sale

editor@romania-insider.com