The costs of the works to renovate the arena amounted to over 1.5 million lei. The largest part of the money was provided by private partners. In the news conference that preceded the opening of the arena, Minister of Culture Monica Babuc said that the authorities could not contribute much to the renovation. In 2004, the Government allocated 15 million lei, when the circus was closed for repair.
“The mismanagement of public money and the flagrant violations of the legislation by foreign investors in that period caused things to stagnate. We have monitored the situation of the Circus since 2009 and tried to find a foreign investor to repair the big arena,” the minister stated for IPN.
Circus artist Igor Cemortan said the public’s opinion about the reopening of the Circus counts a lot. “What’s going on now represents progress in the Moldovan arts. We invited troupes from Finland, Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S. There are also Moldovan artists. There will be presented a series of very good performances,” he stated.
Ukrainian circus artist Piotr Chornenky said the arena is very nice and unusual for circus halls. “I hope this hall will gather together many spectators and will contribute to diversifying the circus programs. My friends who visited the Chisinau Circus earlier told me how beautiful it was. Now I saw it myself and I was impressed by the huge building that was left to go to ruin,” he said.
The small arena has 300 seats arranged in three rows. The organizers plan to stage by 3-4 performances a day. Prices to the inaugural performance vary between 100 and 250 lei.
The administration of the Circus announced that works to repair the big hall that has over 1,900 seats will be launched soon. “We will have a constructive dialogue with the Ministry of Culture. We will identify solutions and will together establish public and private partnerships. The building is very stable. Its structure resists earthquakes of the ninth degree. It only needs to be maintained,” said the Circus’s administrator Andrei Locoman.
An international program entitled “Magic of Circus” will be presented between May 30 and June 29.
