Ivan Patzaichin Museum in Mile 23 opening in May 2024
Ivan Patzaichin Museum in Mila 23, a community innovation center for which the total investment was 3.6 million lei, will be inaugurated in May 2024, announced the Ivan Patzaichin – Mila 23 Association, which initiated the project and will manage it.
The activities of the center will be based on the recovery and reinterpretation of the social norms specific to the Danube Delta area.
“Ivan Patzaichin” Center of Traditional Culture aims to show both residents and visitors how the Delta can develop in a sustainable way, encouraging young people in the area to stay. Traditions and customs can be preserved and integrated into modern life, giving Delta inhabitants the chance to use them as alternative sources of income all year round.
“The museum will not only be a place to visit, but also an open portal to nature, a laboratory and a connector to the creative world, through which local tradition will be preserved, explored and capitalized as a contemporary resource for development”, say the representatives of the Association.
The Observatory, the tallest wooden structure in Tulcea County
The Museum complex consists of two buildings, made entirely of wood and local materials, reed and clay, integrating parts of the house where Ivan’s parents lived after the 1970 floods. Hemp insulation was used to insulate the buildings for the first time in the Delta – an innovative process that recovers and makes superior use of a traditional Romanian plant with multiple uses, largely forgotten today.
The Observatory-Museum, with a height of 18 m, made entirely of laminated wood, is the tallest wooden structure in Tulcea County and will house on the ground floor the Treasure (the most important medals won by Ivan during his activity as an athlete). On the upper floors there is a vertical multimedia art installation that presents the life of Ivan, from his childhood in the village, to the period of multiple Olympic champion, the stage of coach and mentor, to that of social entrepreneur.
The adjacent building will host cultural activities of various local organizations, as well as meetings of stakeholders from the Delta (non-governmental organizations, tourism operators, local authorities), summer camps and artist residencies.
The ensemble will feature a model Local Gastronomy Point space for classes and a workshop to repair and maintain wooden boats. It is equipped with a solar panel system and charging point for bicycles and electric boat motors, aiming to become the first prosumer in Mile 23. This space will be a key hub for sustainable tourism and a reference point for the reshaping of tourism in the Delta, being on the first “slow tourism route” initiated as part of a mobility initiative for ecotourism in the Danube Delta.
Equipment and funding
The Museum will be equipped in the coming period and will open to the public with the new tourist season in May 2024.
The investment totaled 3.6 million lei, benefiting from a grant of 2.376 million lei awarded by the Operational Program for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs 2014 – 2022, Measure III.3 – implementation of local development strategies placed under the responsibility of the community.
More details at www.rowmania.ro.
