Work begins to recover the iconic Bellas Artes building in Barranquilla

After five years of waiting, the Atlantic authorities officially launched the restoration works of Bellas Artes, the iconic building that served as the faculty of the Universidad del Atlántico (Uniatlántico). On April 12, the governor of the Atlantic, Elsa Noguera, signed the act of initiation of the project, which has an investment of 32 billion pesos.

The authorities detailed that of the cost of the project, the Atlantic Government will contribute 24 billion and the University, 8 billion. The restoration works of the Heritage Complex were awarded to the firm Unión Temporal Bellas Artes 2021, formed by the Yacamán Construction Company and BF Construye; and the auditing is in charge of the Interventoría Bellas Artes consortium, made up of Guías Proyect S.A.S and Ingenieros Civiles Especialistas Ltda.

It was indicated that, to begin with, the contractor will dismantle the wooden doors and grilles, those of the wooden floor of the stage, the carpet of the theater and the ceiling. The work will then be fully intervened to recover the entire infrastructure, including the museum, the theater and its surroundings

It should be noted that while the works are being carried out, the rector of the Universidad del Atlántico, Danilo Hernández, reported that in order to guarantee the educational service to Fine Arts students while the building is being intervened, the institution has rented a place to teach classes. They assured that the space meets “all the conditions for them to receive their classes and workshops, with the hope that they can have peace of mind during the process of renovating and modernizing their headquarters”.

The Government of the Atlantic assured that the recovery of the building will benefit 1,250 students of the faculty. Some of them have spoken out to celebrate the news, as they had been waiting for years to restore the building that is part of the department's material heritage.

It should be remembered that last year several students went on a hunger strike outside Bellas Artes to ask for space intervention.

The Bellas Artes building is characterized by its republican design and is one of the architectural jewels of Barranquilla. Since it was designated in 1940 as a cultural space, and later as a faculty of Uniatlántico, it has helped to mark the history of the city by having the oldest higher-level artistic training programs in the entire region.

In recent years this space is not even a shadow of what it used to be, and that is why some of the Barranquilleros have shown their dissatisfaction with the situation. The Bellas Artes building presents problems that are due to time, lack of maintenance, humidity, termite and structural modifications that have been made without previous studies.

Since 2017, the departmental authorities have created a consultation table to plan the reconstruction of Fine Arts. In mid-2020, it became known that the intervention project had secured 12 billion pesos and was 70 percent finished and then moved to the execution phase, but it is until now that concrete works will begin to be carried out.

KEEP READING: