ARCEN will transform until the end of 2029 the ruin of the Marconi cinema, located at the intersection of Calea Griviței with Atelierului street in Bucharest, in a cultural space with two cinemas, concerts and conference, an exhibition space dedicated to photography, an open hub for the young students who attend the theater, a film cafe and a restaurant. Cinema Marconi has the chance to become a real pole to reactivate the historical area Buzesti-Berzei, almost completely destroyed, almost 20 years ago, by the municipality.
Through the management, vision and experience of ARCEN, Cinema Marconi in Bucharest will become a European model of rescue and reactivation of the film heritage through the direct participation of the citizens.
Cinema Marconi was purchased by a private owner, who in partnership with ARCEN will save and especially will reactivate, through a large cultural project, in the coming years, this monument erected in 1926. The advanced state of degradation requires an impressive collective mobilization with proven experience in saving and preserving the built heritage, but also of important financial resources.
Edmond Niculușcă, president and founder of ARCEN: “After 15 years of experience in saving and reactivating the Bucharest heritage, from the Central School to the Bucharest Catalog Notebooks, then at the Mița Biciclista House, I know that Cinema Marconi can become a living place. But it will not be easy and it will be a long road. This time, we will do things differently, because the challenges are major. And we will not do it with the money of the state or an exclusively private, but by mobilizing an entire community. This will be the supreme demonstration that Arcen can coordinate the impossible. We are already working with people of great professionalism on several levels in this project. A major challenge will be to attract some European funds.“
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Saving and reactivating Cinema Marconi we want to become a case study to modify the legislation on protecting the heritage in Romania. We will make public at European level studies on the state of degradation of the historical heritage built in Bucharest, and the concrete case of this cinema. ARCEN will request European funds and will develop international partnerships to reactivate this place, in an abandoned area of the Capital.
First projection after decades of dark is the title of the campaign launch event that will take at least 4 years:
On Friday, July 25, 2025, at 9:00 pm, Cinema Marconi will be illuminated for the first time in decades through a video mapping show coordinated by ARCEN. The event will include the presentation of the vision and the project that depends on the community mobilization.
The campaign aims to raise at least 3 million euros in the next 4 years. The first phase of securely putting the building will start this summer, and the completion of the entire project is expected in 2029-2030.
