Public campaign in Romania raises only 14% of the money for Brancusi sculpture

Romania's Ministry of Culture has managed to raise only EUR 831,174, which is less than 14% of the EUR 6 million it aims to get via a public campaign to buy Constantin Brancusi’s Cumintenia Pamantului (Wisdom of the Earth) sculpture. With just two weeks left of this campaign, the Government still needs to raise over EUR 5.1 million to reach its target. The Romanian state has agreed to pay EUR 11 million for the sculpture to its current owners, with EUR 5 million coming from the state budget. Earlier this year, the authorities decided to raise the rest of the money through a public fundraising campaign. The Government officially launched the campaign on May 19. The fundraising campaign should end at the end of September. Those interested in contributing to the campaign can donate on the campaign’s dedicated website brancusiealmeu.ro, via text message at 8833, via bank transfer, or by “virtually buying” the sculpture on emag.ro, the biggest local online retailer. Donations come with tax exemptions. Romanians donated a total of EUR 525,617 by wiring money into the Ministry of Culture’s accounts, some EUR 62,000 on eMag.ro, EUR 158,253 on the campaign’s website brancusiealmeu.ro, and EUR 85,282 via text messages. Several local companies got involved in this campaign, such as Bitdefender, Dedeman, Carrefour, and Uber. Bogdan Grabowski, the lawyer who represents the sculpture’s current owners, recently said that the Ministry of Culture would pay EUR 11 million to buy the sculpture regardless of the public subscription campaign’s result. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com