The Cluj-based National Museum of History of Transylvania MNIT inaugurated its Historic Gallery of Transylvania – MuTRA on August 30.

The venue, located in Florești, close to Cluj-Napoca, is described as the country’s first purpose-built public museum, designed and equipped with all the needed facilities for the storage, conservation and display of cultural heritage.

It is an 11,344 sqm museum, located on a site covering more than 15,000 sqm. The project required an investment of RON 145 million (approximately EUR 27.6 million). A total of 60% of the sum came from the Recovery and Resilience Facility PNRR, under an agreement signed with the Ministry of Investments and European Projects, while the remaining 40% was covered by the state budget through the Ministry of Culture, the latter institution said.

The museum complex includes exhibition spaces, museum storage facilities, conservation and restoration laboratories, research facilities, a multimedia room, museum education rooms, retail and leisure spaces, as well as offices for the institution’s day-to-day activities.

A specially designed outdoor infrastructure, including green areas and accessible terraces, will allow the venue to host cultural and leisure events, screenings and historical reenactment festivals.

The venue is meant to solve “the acute lack of space and infrastructure for the storage and restoration of mobile heritage,” the National Museum of History of Transylvania explained when announcing the project last year. MNIT’s Cluj venue will remain in use.

(Photo: Ministerul Culturii Facebook Page)

simona@romania-insider.com