The national children’s library “Ion Creanga” of Chisinau on August 29 re-inaugurated the reading halls of its head office following completion of the reconstruction and renovation works that lasted for eight years. In the period, the library continued to work, IPN reports.

The library’s walls were reinforced, the windows were replaced and an attic-like story with areas for readers was built. There were opened a festivity hall and a reading hall for students and new furniture was purchased. A number of publishing houses donated over 1,000 books to the library, including books by Ion Creanga translated into Russian and English.

Attending the re-inauguration event, Minister of Education, Culture and Research Monica Babuc said this project was a solid investment in a cultural facility. “I’m glad that Parliament adopted the new law on libraries and hope that this will be a serious step towards transforming these institutions and dealing with the challenges of time. Our role, of the people of culture, is to bring the children closer to books and to bring the books closer to children,” stated the minister.

The library’s director general Claudia Balaban said if the child today came to the library alone, tomorrow he will come with his parents, grandparents and friends to show them how nice the library is now. “They say there is the crisis of reading. I would say there is a crisis of valuable books. Now your children and grandchildren have a place where they can read and relax,” stated Claudia Balaban

A sum of 12.5 million lei was allocated from the state budget for renovating the national children’s library “Ion Creanga”. The works were also carried out with sponsorships.