Timisoara 2023 European Capital of Culture programme officially open

After the Grand Opening of the Timisoara 2023 European Capital of Culture, which took place between February 16-29 and was attended by 60,000 people, Business Review now takes a look at the stateowned cultural infrastructure, which is currently undergoing major upgrades and facelifts.

By Oana Vasiliu

Since it won the European Capital of Culture title, Timisoara’s preparations have gone through several phases. Most importantly, it made several updates and changes to the Cultural Programme it had first submitted to the official Bid Book, most of them due to the time perspective and the pandemic’s effects on the local cultural scene, as well as the prospect of public events taking place in a pandemic context.

Furthermore, the curatorial team tried to revisit the cultural programme, which was focused on the long-term sustainability of cultural organisations in Timisoara, encouraging transversality and international partnerships. For this to happen, there was a need for serious investments that could revitalise some major cultural landmarks, most of them state-owned.

THE CORNELIU MIKLOSI MUSEUM

CURRENTLY PART OF MULTIPLEXITY

REOPENING: FEBRUARY 2023

INVESTMENT: APPROX. EUR 500,000 (ACCORDING TO LOCAL PUBLICATION TION.RO)

Tm2023 Opening

3 DAYS

60,000 PARTICIPANTS

32 LOCATIONS

130 CULTURAL EVENTS OVER 1,000 VOLUNTEERS OVER EUR 1.5 MILLION FROM THE LOCAL BUDGET OVER EUR 160,000 FROM THE CULTURE MINISTRY the hall, exposing its metallic roof structure. The depot also had an apprentice school at the back. The establishment of the Timisoara Public Transport Museum is linked to several important developments in Romania: the first horse-drawn tram in 1869 and the first electric tram in 1899. The depot was transformed into a cultural space based on a project by designer Silviu Danescu, highlighting the space’s industrial architecture which, while functionalist, sober, and lacking in ornamentation, offers outstanding ambiance and lighting for the Museum.

CINEMA VICTORIA

REOPENING: SPRING 2022

CAPACITY: 200 SEATS

INVESTMENT: EUR 2.2 MILLION (ACCORDING TO LOCAL PUBLICATION TION.RO)

Cinema Victoria was the first of the cinema halls that was rehabilitated by the Timisoara Municipality, to be returned to the community. It officially re-entered the city's cultural circuit in September 2022, 30 years after its last film screening. It is managed and operated by the team at Centrul de Proiecte, the organisation that coordinates the entire cultural programme for Timisoara 2023.

THE WATER TOWER (IOSEFIN)

CURRENTLY BEING RESTORED AS A CULTURAL CENTRE

INVESTMENT: EUR 2.2 MILLION (ACCORDING TO LOCAL PUBLICATION DEBANAT.RO)

The Baroque Palace is an 18th-century Baroque-style palace located in the city centre. The building alternated between several functions and purposes over the years, having served as the administrative building and living headquarters for the city’s governor, as a University, as a military base for the Soviet army, and since 2006, as the home of the Timisoara Art Museum.

With Timisoara 2023 hosting two great retrospectives for Romanian artists Victor Brauner and Constantin Brancusi, the Timis County Council invested in the museum’s current infrastructure for best-performing access control, anti-burglary, video surveillance, air conditioning, and wi-fi systems.

THE MARIA THERESIA BASTION INVESTMENT: APPROX. EUR 325,000 (ACCORDING TO LOCAL PUBLICATION IMPACT PRESS)

The project aims to activate a neglected area and reclaim its historicalindustrial heritage by turning the Iosefin Water Tower into a permanent cultural space. The Iosefin Water Tower was included in 2020 in a large-scale project that was funded through EEA and Norway Grants and commissioned by the PRIN BANAT Association together with the Timisoara Municipality. The vision was to transform the tower into a permanent cultural centre with a café, an exhibition hall, a foyer, and a belvedere.

THE TIMISOARA ART MUSEUM INVESTMENT: APPROX. EUR 2 MILLION

According to the Tur de Arhitectura Association, commissioned by Art Encounters, the Maria Theresia Bastion is part of the fortification system built by Timisoara’s Habsburg administration. Initially, the city’s defence was a simpler array of walls, an enclosure protected by earth slopes strengthened with palisades and only a few parts of brick formations, along with four gates connecting the exterior. New fortifications, shaped like a 9-cornered star and featuring baroque gates, were erected between 1723 and 1763 following the model prescribed by French military engineer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban.

Today, the Bastion hosts permanent and temporary exhibition spaces—including those from the National Museum of Banat, which is closed for refurbishment—, the Timis County Library art section, as well as cafés and restaurants.

Works still in progress: Dacia Cinema, Unirea Cinema, Studio Cinema, Marasesti Cultural Centre, Freidorf Cinema, Kuncz Cultural and Educational Centre, Arta Cinema, Banatul Philharmonic (2024), Huniade Castle (2024), the Museum of the Romanian Revolution (2025).

TOTAL INVESTMENTS:

• Over EUR 44 million investment for the entire programme

• EUR 40 million coming from the Timisoara City Hall, the Timis County Council, and the Culture Ministry

• EUR 4 million coming from corporate sponsorship