Good practice:

Rehabilitation of the Iron Gates Region Museum Complex and its valorisation as a tourist product

The background of the practice refers to an old visiting infrastructure, historical monuments in poor condition, lack of modern facilities for the increasing number of tourists, correlated with insufficient funds for the rehabilitation works.
The specific objectives that have been reached through the implementation of the project, refers to: the rehabilitation of the existing cultural-historical infrastructure (the building of the Iron Gates Region
Museum) and its development through a multifunctional pavilion; a strong development of tourism infrastructure especially through restoration of the Roman civilization elements, but also the medieval ones; the access facilities to the cultural-historical heritage of the museum were considered through the establishment of a visiting route and the assurance of all necessary services and equipments.
Through this project were rehabilitated both national objectives of cultural heritage and one objective of cultural heritage of local interest (the building of the Iron Gates Region Museum).
The project was carried out through an agreement between two different administrations (City Hall and County Council). The main stakeholders and beneficiaries of the practice are: Mehedinti County Council, Drobeta Turnu Severin City Hall, local communities, Romanian and foreign tourists, private sector contractors and consultants.

The project was funded under the Regional Operational Programme 2007-2013
Total value of the project -11,45 mil euro
Non-reimbursable value (ERDF+national budget) - 8,86 mil. euro

The objectives of cultural heritage were rehabilitated, being created the premises for the development and diversification of tourism services, the number of visitors increased (from 30.000 to 33.000), 20 new jobs were created, the quality of cultural events increased.
The evidence of success does not rely only on the rehabilitation itself, but on the social and economic added value, cultural heritage being part of social life and representing an important economic opportunity.

The implementation of the project “Rehabilitation of the Iron Gates Region Museum Complex and its valorisation as a tourist product “leads to the attractiveness of this cultural objective, of the SW Region and implicitly to the growth of the number of tourists and local economy. RDA SW Oltenia itself undertook some major steps towards the other institutions in the field, in order to transfer this practice to similar objectives, underlining their importance and necessity.
We consider that this practice has potential for replication in other regions, as well, especially if there are available public funds for such activities.