Romania starts online fundraising to buy famous Brancusi sculpture

The Romanian state is currently trying to buy Constantin Brancusi’s famous sculpture Cumintenia Pamantului (The Wisdom of the Earth). It has started an online fundraising campaign and is currently asking for help from anybody willing to chip in. The state wants to raise EUR 6 million in donations by end-September. The Romanian Ministry of Culture recently launched a website where anybody can donate via online payment whatever amounts they can afford. The campaign’s website Brancusiealmeu.ro accepts online payments, with support from retailers emag.ro and lender Banca Transilvania. Everyone who donates on the campaign websites receives a symbolic digital diploma with their name on it, to attest for their support and share via social media, inviting others to do the same. People can also wire money into any of the Ministry's accounts opened at the State Treasury and several banks. The respective bank account numbers are at the end of this article. With the communication campaign managed pro bono by GMP Group and Media Investment, and the public support of a host of public persons, many of whom show their support in a special promotion video in Romanian - watch the video here-, the fundraising is one of a kind in Romania. The campaign Brancusi e al meu (in English, Brancusi is mine) reminds of the popular effort 130 years ago to raise money for the Romanian Athenaeum, under the then slogan 'Donate one Leu for the Atheneum' (in Romanian, Dati un leu pentru Ateneu). The Romanian state is trying to recover the work of art, after many of Brancusi's sculptures were bought by individuals. This campaign was started by former Culture Minister Vlad Alexandrescu, who resigned earlier this year over a scandal at the Romanian Opera. The Government will pay a total of EUR 11 million for this special work of art, EUR 6 million of which in donations, and EUR 5 million from the Government. Donations come with tax exemptions. If the campaign is unsuccessful, every contributor will receive their donation back. The Culture Ministry will announce the first results of the campaign on June 1, and then on the 1st and 15th of each month until end-September 2016. Cumintenia Pamantului is probably one of Constantin Brancusi’s most famous sculptures still on Romanian territory. Made in 1907, the sculpture is currently owned by the heirs of the architect George Romascu, who bought the artwork from Constantin Brancusi in 1911. Constantin Brancusi was born in 1876 in Hobita, southern Romania. Known as “the father of modern sculpture,” he was a painter, architect and a master of abstract art. He died in 1957, aged 81, and is buried in Paris. Read more about him