In accordance with art. 9 of the Regulation on the Organization and Functioning of the National Atheneum in Iași, ‘Our main objectives are to affirm the national cultural identity and the cultural identities of national minorities through the performing arts, to promote local artistic values both in the country and abroad, to educate and improve public access to shows, and to support public initiatives and encourage private ones, in order to diversify and develop the performing arts.’
The National Atheneum in Iași operates in fields like: drama (our own actors, independent actors with whom we work), cinema (Atheneum Cinema – the first public cinema to reopen after 1989 and member of the Europa Cinemas network), music (Great Unification Choir, Children’s Choir of Iași City, ‘Doina Moldovei’ Ensemble, Youth Orchestra of Iași), visual arts (6 exhibition venues: Royal Gallery, The Pinacotheque of Jassy, Gallery Venue, Old Gallery, The Pinacothequeof Jassy, Great Romanians Hall), museum activities (Atheneum Museum), education and recreational activities (courses, workshops, etc.), and also cultural heritage restoration and valorization activities.
The immovable cultural heritage assets administered by the National Atheneum in Iași include:
– 4 public cinemas, 3 of which located in the ‘Historic Center and Royal Court – LMI code IS-I-s-A-03504’ – taken over in 2017. In 2019, the Victoria Cinema (current Unification Hall) was restored to the cultural heritage circuit;
– 1 historical monument of local value – Buicliu House – LMI code IS-II-M-B-03977. In this sense, the project was carried out at the DALI phase, for the ‘Restoration and reviving of the historical monument in order to create a Children’s Museum’;
– a building located on Cuza Vodă Street, also included in the Historic Center of Iași – LMI code IS-I-s-A-03504). This building is being modernized to set up an ‘Actors’ House’, an initiative meant to support young artists working in Iași.
For the National Atheneum in Iași, the immovable cultural heritage assets represent the most valuable component of its cultural heritage, both in terms of direct material value and in relation to the possibilities of inserting extra-cultural components.
In 2020, the National Atheneum in Iași managed to make a series of proposals for the rehabilitation of the buildings that it administers and to complete others, at the project stage. Thus, from the drafting and submission of the documentation for obtaining the fire safety clearance for the Unification Hall, to the Bogonos/Buicliu House restoration and reviving project, phase D.A.L.I. (documentation for approving the intervention works), project which received the approval of Iași Zonal Commission of Historical Monuments, the National Atheneum team in Iași pursues its efforts of preserving, protecting and promoting local cultural heritage, through all existing administrative and financial methods.
