The second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County (317,000 population),located near the border with Moldova. It has traditionally been one of the centres of Romanian social,cultural, academic, and artistic life. The city is home to the oldest Romanian university and first engineering school. The city has always been multicultural; Italian, Jewish, Polish, Greek, Armenian, Roma and other nationals lived here. In the recent years, the increase of Muslim community is observed in the city. Furthermore, many refugees came to Iași just after the outbreak of war in Ukraine in February 2022, children were enrolled in education. The Moldova National Museum Complex hosts four museums in the famous Palace of Culture, the construction of which was conceived as a rebuilding and expansion project of the former Princely Palace of Moldavia, dated 1803-1806, and renovated 1841-1843. Its foundation and the first two floors were preserved while the rest of the building was rebuilt again in early 19th century in a Neo-Gothic style by the Romanian architect I.D. Berindei. 

 

An unexploited space in the former power plant of the Palace with its elements of technical heritage and diverse potential use (contemporary art, photography, multimedia ... workshop and/or exhibition site etc), was selected as the experimentation site, aiming at creating an inter-cultural meeting, creativity and sharing point.

 

Objective: The palace and its challenging underground space, containing the industrial heritage which is to become a space for cross-cultural exchanges, with creative presentations of individuals and communities from different nationalities who have over the centuries found home and prosperity in Iasi.