Marino and Prince Sultan in deal to save Rome monuments
(ANSA)
- Rome, March 31 - Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino has secured a long-term
deal with the Saudi monarchy to fund restoration projects in the
cash-strapped Italian capital, the mayor's office said Monday. Marino
traveled to Riyadh at the weekend on the invitation of Sultan bin
Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, a Saudi prince with a passion for art
who reportedly first met the mayor at a Rome exhibition in October.
Rome's
mayor reportedly flew to meet Prince Sultan, a former Royal Saudi Air
Force pilot and astronaut who is the current Saudi tourism minister,
with a dossier of nine multi-million-euro restoration projects to
choose from. These range from a 1.3-million-euro restoration of the
facades of the 19th-century Palazzo delle Esposizioni exhibition
centre, to a six-million-euro effort to return the Seven Halls, an
ancient Roman cistern that once supplied the Baths of Trajan, to
their former glory. While terms of the deal have not yet been
disclosed, the Saudi monarchy has reportedly agreed to set up a Rome
historical monument restoration fund along with other private donors.
Rome has agreed to loan artwork to Saudi museums in return. This is not the first time Rome mayors have sought alternative funding to keep the city's landmark monuments on their feet. Last week, luxury jeweller Bulgari signed a deal to pay for the restoration of Rome's Spanish Steps, while the owner of Italian shoe label Tod's has ploughed millions of euros into the Colosseum. As well, Fendi fashion house has agreed to renovate the Trevi Fountain, while Japanese patron Yuzo Yagi in 2012 paid to restore the Pyramid of Cestius.
In October, the Hall of the Philosophers at Rome's Capitoline Museum reopened after a six-month, 100,000-euro renovation courtesy of the country of Azerbaijan.
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