Museum act approved

  • 2013-02-20
  • From wire reports

TALLINN - The Cabinet on Feb. 7 approved a bill on a new museum act, under which Estonia becomes responsible for any damage to foreign artworks lent to Estonia, reports ERR. This move is expected to attract more international art exhibits to Estonia.
“Many such shows [art exhibitions] have been canceled due to high insurance fees or because museums do not accept private insurance,” explained Estonian Minister of Culture Rein Lang.

The state’s guarantee will not be automatic to all art pieces and museums will have to apply for the insurance. The bill will also define principles behind new acquisitions of art to state collections.
The number of museums eligible to show state collections will increase and all museums, irrespective of ownership, will have equal access to state funds.

The bill is expected to be passed by Parliament and should come into force by summer.
The government plans even more changes to the current state of affairs of museums. The Estonian Ministry of Culture aims to reduce the number of museums in Estonia, or make them more attractive and sustainable.
Now Estonia shows a very high number of museums per capita, therefore the Culture Ministry plans either merging or closing some of them.