Romania’s Venice Pavilion may close in 2026

Romania’s pavilion in Venice, where art and architecture projects included in the Biennale program are exhibited annually, is likely to be closed in 2026, for the completion of renovation works managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The organizers of the Romanian exhibition at the Venice Biennale are the Ministry of Culture, the Romanian Cultural Institute and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Andrei Novac, State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasized on February 17, at the presentation of this year’s winning project, the need to complete the repairs to the national pavilion, inaugurated in 1938, following the efforts of Nicolae Iorga, a member of the government at the time.
Two years ago, in the same context, it was announced that the space would be renovated. These works have been started, but only partially, and Novac says that the pavilion needs to be closed for at least half a year to be completed properly.

Works estimated to be completed in half a year

Romania participates annually in the Venice Biennale, alternatively with art and architecture projects. According to the MFA representative, “a break would be needed in 2026”.
This does not mean that our country will no longer participate in the event, but that collaboration will be sought.

“MAE is committed and determined to solve this problem, to bring this pavilion up to 2025 standards, it will just be very complicated from an organizational perspective. It is very difficult to have participation every year in the pavilion and to manage to realize all those works that are still needed – ventilation, skylight, etc. We will have to find a solution and take a break in one of the years. I think the break would be needed next year so that we can finish these works,” said Novac.

The works were fully approved, they were not finalized, in the meantime there were some budgetary restrictions and the procedure for their approval needed to be restarted, the Secretary of State explained. “We will find a solution for 2026 and we will be able to finish these works in the first half of next year, so that from 2027 the Romanian Pavilion will be in line with the requirements of the cultural market.”

Attila Kim, commissioner of Romania’s participation in the Architecture Biennale, and Liviu Jicman, president of the ICR, expressed their full agreement, with the renovation work long overdue.

Romanian art and architecture projects are currently on show in the Romanian Pavilion in the Giardini and at the New Gallery of the ICRCU (Romanian Institute for Culture and Humanist Research in Venice).

“Human Scale” represents Romania at the Architecture Biennale 2025

The Venice Biennale of Art and the Venice Biennale of Architecture are the world’s most important and most visited exhibitions dedicated to these fields.

This year, the 19th edition of the International Architecture Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia, which takes place from May 10 to November 23, will be held in national pavilions in 66 countries and territories.
The theme of the edition is “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective “curated by architect and engineer Carlo Ratti, who aims to connect disciplines such as art, engineering, biology, data science and urban design.

Romania is represented by “Human Scale“, realized by Vlad Nancă, Ioana Chifu, Onar Stănescu (Muromuro Studio). The curator is Cosmina Goagea, and the team is made up of Corina Bucea, Ana Ciobanu, Vlad Tăușance, Otilia Fiastru, Suzana Vasilescu, Bucharest.studio.

Photo: frame from the “Now – Here – There” exhibition, which represented Romania in the National Pavilion at the 2023 Biennale (c) curatorial