Rovereto Museum Delay Confirmed Amid Construction Challenges
“Construction times have been extended; I confirm the news that Mart reported yesterday about the postponement of the inauguration. The landslide on the hill is unrelated to this delay in completing the museum complex, which is due to issues of work competitiveness that we are addressing on the foundations and the placement of heat points for a project that has now reached a hundred billion euros in expenses,” stated one of the project designers of the Rovereto Museum Complex, engineer Giulio Andreolli. Alongside Swiss architect Mario Botta, Andreolli is one of the masterminds behind the creation of a building that will house the works of Mart, the modern and contemporary art museum, as well as a library, an archive, and a 460-seat auditorium on a total area of twelve thousand square meters.
From him, we received further confirmation of the communication from Mart’s spokesperson, who yesterday announced, according to a national news agency, that the opening of the Trento and Rovereto Museum and Cultural Complex has been postponed by one year. The building, the 18th-century Palazzo Alberti and Palazzo del Grano—also hosting a restaurant, a large parking garage, and a covered square in Rovereto’s historic center—will now be inaugurated on September 30, 2001, rather than this fall.
An initial delay was anticipated in spring 2001, followed by a final decision. “The reasons for rescheduling the opening date,” — according to Mart’s spokesperson — “are mainly due to difficulties encountered during the foundation’s construction, as the building is situated close to the mountain, which required reinforcing this side first.”
The construction work was inaugurated in November 1997 by then Minister of Cultural Heritage and Vice President of the Council, the Democratist Walter Veltroni. The initial estimated cost, based on a report from 1995, was 89 billion euros. “The cost of the project has risen to 100 billion,” engineer Andreolli told us, “due to physiological reasons associated with a project of this size, including issues related to strengthening the southeast walls and the structures bordering the English Ladies’ structure.”
Moreover, increased professional effort and result verification are needed due to the placement of heat points. This technical aspect has been recalibrated. Energy sources are crucial for such an important project for the city, the Province, and Europe.”
The project by Botta and Andreolli favors the use of natural light and features a covered square as an organizing void for the functions of the complex, serving as a gathering and resting place for visitors. If some still believe in bad luck, it could also be noted that this exceptional cultural project faced another obstacle, partly due to the landslide on the hill above — although the houses in Via Setteville show cracks and fissures — as well as strikes by the masonry workers who built the reinforced concrete structures and the “natural” delays that slow down construction activities.
“Every week,” engineer Andreolli explained, “all works are monitored, with daily assessments of the progress. We cannot rush interventions if that risks compromising the final result of the construction. I reiterate that the hill’s movements have nothing to do with these delays in the site. With the construction of the wall, which should start in a few days, the municipality hopes to resolve the situation of the houses on the ‘hat’ of the hill.”
