The City of Rijeka has selected a construction company for the reconstruction of the Management building of the former sugar refinery in Rijeka where the new spaces for the Rijeka City Museum will be developed.
The selected company is VG5 LLC from Slovenia. The Benčić complex, which recently became the new home for the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, will thus once again become a large construction site in early March. Construction should be completed by the end of 2019.
This significant step in the long-term reconstruction process of the Sugar Refinery Palace was announced by City of Rijeka Mayor Vojko Obersnel, Head of the Department of Culture of the City of Rijeka Ivan Šarar, and head of the Division for the protection and preservation of cultural heritage of Rijeka Nikolina Radiš Štivić.
The Mayor stated that this is a step forward in the realisation of infrastructural projects related to the European Capital of Culture, and that construction can finally begin after the lengthy and exhaustive period of preparing the required documentation. He also pointed out that the City of Rijeka has good experiences with the selected construction company, as they had previously participated in the reconstruction of the front of the Nikola Tesla elementary school building and the new Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art building. The reconstruction of the Sugar Refinery Palace is valued at 44.475.825,00, where 28.382.562,00 kuna was drawn from EU funds and the remaining 16.093.263,00 kuna is dedicated from the Budget of the City of Rijeka.
Obersnel announced an application which the City of Rijeka submitted to the Ministry of Regional Development and EU funds, the results of which are still not out, and which could cover a part of the city’s expenditure.
The reconstruction of one of the most beautiful baroque palaces in the region designed as the Management building of the former sugar refinery and the reconstruction of the ship Galeb are part of the integrated programme “Tourist valorisation of representative monuments of the industrial heritage of Rijeka”.
In order to reconstruct and put into service these two representative protected cultural monument, the Ministry of Regional Development and EU funds approved a non-refundable amount of 69 million kuna to Rijeka from the European Fund for Regional Development within the scope of the Competitiveness and Cohesion operative programme. Both the Sugar Refinery Palace and Galeb are registered cultural assets which will be part of the European Capital of Culture 2020. The Management building will serve as the Rijeka City Museum, and Galeb will become a sort of subsidiary of the Rijeka City Museum with integrated commercial services.
Regarding the part of the project pertaining to Galeb, the project-classification documentation for the repurposing of the ship into a museum/hostel is being prepared, and the Croatian Ship Registry then needs to review it and issue an approval.
Furthermore, a detailed expense plan is being prepared as part of the documentation for the call for public procurement for the construction company. After it is completed along with the advanced counselling and evaluation by the Central Finance and Contracting Agency, a call for public procurement will be issued for work on the reconstruction of Galeb, and construction should, as stated by the Mayor, begin in the second half of the year.
Nikolina Radiš Štivić, head of the Division for the protection and preservation of cultural heritage of Rijeka commented on the accompanying tenders related to the Sugar Refinery Palace. Applications for the tender for the selection of expert oversight over the construction process and the design of the project’s visual identity are currently being evaluated.
Additionaly, the City of Rijeka has recently prepared the documentation and conducted a tender for the development of permanent museum exhibitions based on the concept design developed by the Rijeka City Museum in collaboration with designer Nikolina Jelavić Mitrović. One bid was submitted to the tender, and it is currently being evaluated. At the same time, plans are being developed for the restoration of museum assets, as well as the development of research and collaborations with partner institutions.
Head of the Department of Culture Ivan Šarar explained that that primary motivation for investing in the Sugar Refinery Palace is its massive historical significance for the city’s development. Šarar pointed out that the construction of the baroque Palace in the mid-18th century started the city’s transformation from a small seaside town into an industrial centre, and that the building’s multifaceted history speaks volumes on the international aspect of Rijeka’s culture, so this “reservoir of the city’s memory” will become the point of origin of contemporary Rijeka.
Finally, Šarar announced the continuation of the activities on the refurbishment of the Benčić complex, so tomorrow they are submitting an application to the Ministry of Regional Development and EU funds for the strategic project “Revitalisation of the Benčić Complex – Brick and T-object”, which aims to refurbish the new buildings of the Rijeka City Library and the Brick House.
By reconstructing and equipping the Sugar Refinery Palace the city gains a cultural asset which is currently not active.
The reconstruction of the existing space into a gallery is planned in such a way that the size, external appearance and load-bearing capacity of the object remain unchanged, and that new contents are placed into the space with as few interventions as possible. This way, the main elements of the building are preserved, and it is transformed to serve a new purpose. New safety and technical systems will be implemented to enable the contemporary use and development of museum activities.
The entrance space is located in the middle of the ground floor by the southern building front. The ground floor by the southern building front will accommodate business spaces. The first and second floor will serve as exhibition spaces. On the second floor, the grand hall and the smaller salon can host various cultural events. The third floor will serve as space for curators and other supporting staff, while the attic will serve as technical space and warehousing. A new evacuation stairwell will be constructed on the eastern building front.
The Sugar Refinery Palace has been a protected cultural asset since 1970. The Croatian Conservation Institute has conducted research within the building and their results indicate that the building’s future purpose has to be well thought out.
The Sugar Refinery marked the beginning of the industrialisation of Rijeka. As a cultural asset of great significance for Rijeka, the Sugar Refinery Palace will, as the Rijeka City Museum, tell the story about the city and its rich identity and history, thus creating a significant landmark in the development of urban cultural tourism.
It was built as the management building for the sugar refinery in 1752 as requisitioned by the Trieste and Rijeka-based company. It was significantly restored following the fire in 1785 and furbished in the baroque style with wall paintings and stucco.
In the 19th century it was used as the management building for the tobacco factory, and then for the engine factory Rikard Benčić. It is the highest quality baroque palace on the eastern Adriatic, whose construction marked the start of the industrial development of Rijeka. The building’s interior is heavily decorated with stucco, frescos and ceramic furnaces.
The European Capital of Culture project involves large-scale infrastructural interventions in the Benčić complex, as the other objects will also be restored and put into function in addition to the Sugar Refinery Palace.
The first phase of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art has been completed and the Museum moved to the so-called H-object last September.
The reconstruction of the Brick House and the new space of the Rijeka City Library (the T-object) in the Benčić complex is also expected, and these projects will be financed by the resources obtained through the Rijeka Urban Agglomeration in the amount of cca 69 million kuna.
The Brick House will be a cultural institution for children, offering them a programme organised by multiple institutions and associations from Rijeka.
The surroundings of the Benčić complex will also undergo landscaping.
Source: rijeka.hr
