Cotroceni National Museum, ARCHÉ Association and PONT Group organized a debate on the topic of the conservation and revitalization of the build cultural heritage on 24 March 2016 at the Cotroceni National Museum.

Cristina Verona Tobi, the manager of the Cotroceni National Museum opened the event. ”What happens in the country with our built cultural heritage means a great problem and it depends on us to realize this and to draft a strategy to save this.”

András Farkas, the co-founder of PONT Group presented the Castle in Transylvania – Strategy and Development Models project as well as the strategy that was elaborated by the organization as part of this project. ”Why does a young group from Cluj-Napoca engage with the Transylvanian castles? We launched this initiative in 2010 as we have decided to approach the topic of the castles a little differently. For example, when we organized an online competition involving local communities which have adopted castles, we realized that people are willing to do something for these buildings. And so we realized that one can build communities around these buildings, especially around the values they represent. In order to create a strategic framework we used the opportunity provided by grants Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway trough the Ministry of Culture – Project Management Unit in the cadre of “Conservation and Revitalization of the Cultural and Natural Patrimony”.  The strategy could be the basis of future projects. This problem will not be solved by us or by others, it will be solved only through collaboration.”

The Castle in Transylvania – strategies and development models project is supported by a grand from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway trough the Ministry of Culture – Project Management Unit in the cadre of “Conservation and Revitalization of  the Cultural and Natural Patrimony” – financed trough SEE 2009–2014 Financial Mechanism with an amount of 235.107,43 RON.