RK spied the following article in an Italian newspaper and used google translate to bring it into english.
The translation is far from expert but it is good enough to get the gist of its contents.
January 13, 2016
"BRESCIA / CHRONICLE
THE INTERVIEW
Zaleski and carpets for Cruising St. Luke: "A gift to the city"
The Foundation Tassara will of the restoration work but not of the future management of the museum: it is up to Brescia Museums. "I do not know if I will like to Brescia but will attract collectors and scholars around the world"
"This is my gift to the city, to which I am very attached. A gift which is not possible to quantify the value. The rarest carpet, a Holbein the fifteenth century, is now worth between 11 and the € 13 million ". So says the Franco-Polish businessman Romain Zaleski. Eighty-three years old next February 7, camuno adoption by mid-nineties (after it took over the Carlo Tassara) is among the wealthiest men in the world. He does not like to talk business with journalists but the voice is friendly if this is his great passion. The carpets. He collects them for a lifetime and donated them to the foundation Carlo Tassara, which will set up in the city a unique museum in the world, after restoring (planned spending 7 million) a former cruise of San Luca, in the central Corso Zanardelli.
Zaleski, for the recovery of the Cruise the City has put out a call to which the foundation has joined Tassara, to fulfill ourselves the museum of carpets.
Will you?
"Yes, the idea is. There is a number of issues to deal with but the Foundation is developing the project and will take charge of the restoration of the building costs. But it is not equipped to handle the museum. "
You could do it Brescia Museums ...
"Yes, I hope so."
The museum would receive success in your opinion?
"I do not know what action could have in the people of Brescia and Lombardy. But it would be the only one in Europe and could attract international tourism, made up of collectors, scholars, enthusiasts. There are unique rugs on display at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Louvre, the Victoria Museum in London. But it does not exist, except in Istanbul, a museum dedicated only to carpets, with pieces from all over the world and from all periods ".
Your most valuable piece or one to which she is particularly linked?
"It's a Holbein Anatolia, of 1430. My wife and I have bought at auction the goods of a palace in Venice in 2002, was perfectly intact, preserved under a bed. They asked for 11 thousand euro, there we are awarded to almost 600 thousand euro. Today it is estimated nearly 13 million because there are only a dozen in the world. It is the only certified by the Fine Arts. "
They are worth all the carpets in 1350?
"It's a cultural value, to which it is impossible to give a figure."
Why did he choose Brescia as the venue for the exhibition?
"It can be a major attraction for the city, already full of important cultural treasures. I think of the Roman theater, in Santa Giulia. I am fond of Brescia, the frequent, I have several friends. My wife (Helene De Prittwitz, ed) is vice president of the Great theater foundation. "
Why not donate them to the Louvre or another important museum?
"They would lose in importance in the middle of a large amount of works. For this it is best to Brescia. "
A Quick start the restoration also of the nearby art gallery, for which there is no need of many funds. Ever thought of a help?
"No. At the moment".