News
European Union Grant for the Museum
Two Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum projects have received grants under the “Infrastructure and Environment” European Operational Program. Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bogdan Zdrojewski announced the grant awards on February 4.
The proposals submitted by the Museum received high marks, 52 out of a possible 62 points, the second-best results in the category “Protection and Preservation of the Cultural Heritage with Extra-Regional Significance.” The total amount of the two EU grants to the Museum is almost 19 million złoty.
The Museum applied for financing for conservation work on two blocks (2 and 3) at the Auschwitz I site, and the conservation of five wooden barracks at the Auschwitz-Birkenau site.
“The projects have already received excellent marks for their subject matter,” said Rafał Pióro, head of the Museum Preservation Section. “Now we must update the previously submitted documentation and supply additional annexes on the planned work. We are very well prepared for this and are not at all concerned. The only thing that remains is to sign the contracts and begin the work, which is of vital importance, on the Museum grounds.”
The conservation work on blocks 2 and 3 at the Auschwitz I site is essential because of the changes to the main Museum exhibition, which will be housed in blocks 1-11. Before the new display elements can be installed, the buildings must undergo conservation in order to preserve as much of the original structure as possible, and to ensure the safety of the people who visit the new exhibition.
“The conservation situation is much more challenging at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau site,” said Pióro. “The barracks were erected in great haste, and we are now in a race with time to preserve their authenticity. In the 1990s, we obtained money from Belgium, Greece, and Luxembourg to preserve several wooden barracks. We will now conserve five barracks, and there are two more to be done after that. However, we must also remember that there are still dozens of brick barracks at Birkenau, along with an enormous number of ruins that should also undergo conservation in the immediate future.”
“The high marks for our proposals show that our conservationists and engineers are excellently prepared for the large projects required on the vast grounds of the Memorial as a part of our mission to maintain authenticity. So far Poland has done the most to upkeep and preserve this site,” said Museum Director Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński. “We are working on a solution that will make it possible for us to plan long-term preservation work on almost 200 hectares of grounds, where there are 155 buildings and 300 ruins, not to mention the archives and collections. This solution is the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, which we have just launched. I think that the excellent marks for these projects means that the European Union will take an even more favorable view of the Foundation.”
“It is my ambition for culture to be a leader in the absorption of European funds, and for the quality and efficiency of the distribution of financing in the cultural sphere to be as high as possible,” said Zdrojewski at the press conference. A total of 28 of the 120 cultural proposals submitted to the ministry have received European Union funding this year.
