EU to provide financial aid to restore cultural, historical objects from both banks of Dniester

Chisinau, 30 January /MOLDPRES/ - The residents from both banks of Dniester are invited to identify objects from the cultural heritage placed in their native settlements, which need preservation/restoration and show their opinion on the initiative’s need and its impact on the cultural and historical heritage. The preliminary deadline for the submission of applications on financing is 31 January, for the accomplishment of the short list - 15 February and for the launch of the second stage – 20 February.    

The contest of ideas is launched within the component for the preservation/restoration of the cultural heritage of the European Union’s Confidence Building Measures Programme (EU-CBM). One of the goals of the EU-CBM programme is financing works of preservation and restoration of historical monuments of national importance and of the small-scale cultural heritage, which is in danger and is regarded as of national historical interest for both banks of Dniester.  

“Besides the Tighina Fortress and the Chisinau Circus, where projects on preparing restoration works have been already started, the programme is set to finance ten small-scale objects from the cultural and historical heritage, by earmarking sums up to 40,000 euros for one object,” the contest’s organizers said.

The present contest is announced as the first stage of identifying a wide spectrum of ideas in the sphere of cultural heritage. The EU-CBM programme will consider the applications, will organize visits on the spot to verify the information unveiled in the application and clear up the potential of restoration of the concerned objects. Based on this process, the second stage will be launched, within which the best ideas will be subjected to an online voting procedure (process with a 50-per cent share of the final score); the result of the voting will be combined with the professional opinion of monitoring the cultural heritage of EU-CBM (the other 50 per cent of the final score).   

After the ten objects are selected, the EU-CBM programme will initiate the procedures of their conservation/restoration.  

The contest is open for persons or groups of people willing to suggest ideas for financing within the EU-CBM programme. The idea proposed should observe the following criteria: the object must be placed either on the right or on the left bank of Dniester and should have potential of enhancing the confidence between the communities from both banks; both objects included in the list of the national cultural heritage and those which are not in this list are accepted for financing; there are real estate objects (historical buildings, monuments, archaeological sites, objects of the natural environment, paintings, etc.) or mobile objects (feature or documentary films, photos, books, collections, etc.); they should have non-political character, etc.       

Also, the project should be carried out within the limits of the budget available, estimated at 40,000 euros.