STA, 12 December 2018 - Rihemberk Castle, a monument of national importance in the west of Slovenia, is to be renovated with the help of the Restaura project, which aims at encouraging private investment into public historical cities and buildings in Central Europe.
The castle opened to the public in June 2017, and was visited by some 8,400 people in some 100 days before being closed again.
The municipality of Nova Gorica would like to turn it into a tourist site accessible to a broad audience and a kind of development centre for the area.
Restaura project manager at the municipality Nataša Kolenc told the STA the castle should also present its story and premises in an innovative and creative manner.
When the municipality became the owner of the castle in 2014, renovation costs were estimated at EUR 8-10m.
Since it did not have the needed money nor was it possible to obtain funds from the EU's 2014-2020 budget, an opportunity opened up with Restaura, she said.
Neva Makuc from the Milko Kos History Institute explained that several Central European countries were faced with a lack of public funds to renovate cultural heritage sites.
Restaura, which started in 2016 and is to end in May 2019, encourages private investment into public historical buildings through a public-private partnership.
With a budget of around EUR 2.1m, it is part of the Central Europe 2014-2020 programme and co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.
But Restaura does not provide funds for direct investments into the castle, it only facilitates that funds are secured from other sources.
Nova Gorica has some EUR 205,000 at disposal as part of Restaura for three years, of which some 31,000 comes from the municipal budget.
So far, all relevant documents for Rihemberk have been collected and studied and ideas discussed with stakeholders from the village of Branik, where the castle is situated.
Technical plans and documents needed for a public-private partnership are also in the making, while an option to host start-ups will also be checked.
The castle is currently in a state of "a secured construction site" with restoration works designed in the period from the 1960s to 1980s not completed yet.
Restaura brings together partners from Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia and Poland, with the Polish city of Nowy Dwor Mazowiecki the lead partner.
