The Young Artists Association Oberliht has issued a petition against the demolition of the Gaudeamus Cinema in Chisinau. Members of the Association provide a series of arguments why the movie theater should be kept and call on the people to sign the petition. Moreover, these consider it is opportune to include the building of the Gaudeamus Cinema in the register of Monuments of Local Importance, IPN reports.
The petition says the Chisinau City Hall on August 19 authorized the demolition of the movie theater for freeing the plot for a future construction. The main argument is that this plot is privately owned and the owner can use it for own purposes. As a result of public consultations, the company’s representative explained that the movie theater is not profitable and this is the main reason for such a decision. However, this promised that the demolition will not be initiated if another solution is identified and accepted to take part in the dialogue with specialists, municipal councilors and civil society.
According to the representatives of Oberliht, the Gaudeamus Cinema should remain intact because Chisinau does not have cultural infrastructure, while the network of movie theaters now includes only four active cinemas of the initial 14, with two of these showing noncommercial films.
Also, the Gaudeamus Cinema forms part of the architectural patrimony of Valentin Voitsehovski, who is an architect of Polish origin who designed a large number of residential, administrative and cultural buildings in Chisinau.
The petition says that from urbanistic viewpoint, the erecting of two 14-story buildings will block traffic in Telecentru quarter and will eliminate the only public area that can be laid out as the center of Telecentru quarter. The area around the Gaudeamus Cinema is the only public place in Telecentru that can offer an alternative for recreation, spending of leisure time, participation in cultural activities, etc.
