The Ministry of Culture will appeal the decision taken by the Chisinau Court of Appeals in the case of Guguță Café that is part of the historical core of the capital city and risks being demolished for building an eight-story office block in that place. In a news conference, Roman Guneavyi, adviser on heritage issues, said that the Ministry asked the Chisinau City Hall not to issue an urbanism certificate and building permit, IPN reports.

Minister of Culture Sergiu Prodan explained that the biggest problem is that both the first court and the second court debated incorrect things due to the carelessness or ill-will of particular persons who worked at the Ministry of Culture, at the Monuments Supervision Agency. The Ministry of Culture will request the Supreme Court of Justice to reexamine the case.

The first project, which received an urbanism certificate from the Chisinau City Hall, said that Guguță Café was in the perimeter of the park. The law allows particular actions, economic activities in green spaces. Later, they came up with an initiative of the Monuments Inspection Agency, which provided for the total reorganization of the park, with the cutting down of all trees, with the restoration of all paths. So, it was a completely new park, which was an aberration from the start. Nobody supported it and this initiative was abandoned. However, the felling of trees was abandoned, but the perimeter of the park remained the newly proposed one, from which that building was removed. This was an illegality, said Sergiu Prodan.

The Ministry of Culture, through the National Council of Historical Monuments, approved cadastral numbers that fall within the notion of historical core of Chisinau and this cadastral map will be made available to all authorities to see what lots form part of the historical core.