The Korea Herald

지나쌤

Guggenheim museum in Helsinki gets rejected

By Korea Herald

Published : Dec. 1, 2016 - 13:41

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HELSINKI (AP) -- The Helsinki City Council has after heated late night debate rejected a plan to build a Guggenheim art museum in the Finnish capital mainly on financial grounds.

Closing a marathon session of nearly six hours, the 85-member city council voted 53-32 early Thursday to bury the long-running project which had sparked passionate opinions -- both for and against -- among the residents of the city in the Nordic country.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation proposed building the Helsinki museum in 2012 following a feasibility study commissioned by the Helsinki mayor. The 130-million euro project was torpedoed by the City board that same year but a revised proposal sweetened by larger private funding won its backing earlier this year, and got forwarded for council vote.

The majority of the City council on Thursday, however, found Helsinki’s 80 million euro share of the costs too high a burden.