The Ministry of Culture will renovate Sala Palatului in Bucharest. The building has been hosting some of the biggest concerts and events organized in the Romanian capital.

In this sense, Sala Palatului will be transferred from the Administration of State Protocol Patrimony RA-APPS to the Ministry of Culture, reports local Profit.ro The renovation is estimated to cost some EUR 30 million, the investment being covered through a loan of EUR 180 million contracted from the Council of Europe Development Bank.

Back in 2006, Sala Palatului was transferred from RA-APPS to the Ministry of Culture. Six years later, the hall was transferred back to RA-APPS after the culture minister at that time proposed the construction of a brand new concert hall. However, the authorities dropped this idea and now Sala Palatului is being transferred back to the Ministry of Culture for renovation.

The loan of EUR 180 million from the Council of Europe Development Bank could be approved in March 2018. Besides Sala Palatului, the money will also be used to revamp the National History Museum and the building of the Opera and Theater in Cluj, according to Profit.ro.

The Ministry of Culture estimates that the revamping work at Sala Palatului could start next year and take three years.

Sala Palatului was built between 1959 and 1960, during the communist era. In 1960, the year of its inauguration, the hall had a capacity of 3,000 seats. However, in the 80s, late communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu ordered the expansion of the hall’s capacity to 4,000 seats. The former Communist Party was using the hall for its congresses.

Bucharest derelict cinema undergoes EUR 10 mln revamp into cultural center

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Sala Palatului on Facebook)