Provinces call for cash to maintain listed buildings, 18 at serious risk
The 12 Dutch provinces need some €373m between them to carry out essential repair work on some of the country’s most important buildings, the NRC said on Monday.
Among the buildings which need maintenance are Amsterdam’s central railway station (€50m), the Dom in Utrecht (€20m), the Soestdijk palace in Baarn (€45m) and the St Jan Basilica in Den Bosch (€10m), the NRC said.
A delegation of provincial officials is due to meet culture minister Jet Bussemaker on Monday to discuss the problems they have in funding major repair work.
Four years ago the national government shifted responsibility for 62,000 listed buildings to provincial councils with an annual repair budget of €20m. The provinces and sponsors are supposed to fund the rest of the work.
Fleur Graper, spokeswoman for the inter-provincial discussion platform IPO told the paper that 18 out of 36 buildings on the at-risk list require urgent action.
‘Historic buildings cost a lot of money but also bring benefits,’ she said. ‘They show us our history and are tourist attractions.’
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