The building, which was once the Vitebsk public art school established by Marc Chagall and Kazimir Malevich, will be turned into a museum. This investment project is being implemented by the Vitebsk centre of modern art, BelTA learnt from the centre’s director Valentina Kirillova. At the first stage, the project will be financed with the help of a grant of the Embassy of the USA in the Republic of Belarus. The museum gained this grant within the cultural heritage conservation programme. At the following stage, the project will be financed by foreign investors who expressed an interest in it during the Belarus Investment Forum in London in November 2008. According to Valentina Kirillova, the form of their participation is being discussed. The building of the Vitebsk art school has survived since the 1920s. This cultural object is of great importance because working there were Marc Chagall, Kazimir Malevich, El Lisitski. They laid the foundation for modern avant-garde art. The cost of the project is $12 million. Valentina Kirillova considers that businessmen are interested in the project not only because of the celebrities’ names. The project also presents an opportunity to create a new tourism attraction of the national and international significance, to establish the market of artwork and intellectual property, to promote modern art.

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