Romania pledges more public funds to buy Brancusi sculpture

BUCHAREST (AP) -- Romania’s government says it will use public funds to buy a nationally treasured work by sculptor Constantin Brancusi after a donation campaign failed to raise the money needed.

The government Wednesday pledged an additional several million euros toward the country’s purchase of “Wisdom of the Earth” from its private owners. The sculpture will be displayed in a Bucharest museum.

A six-month fundraising campaign that ended last month raised 1.27 million euros ($1.4 million), well short of its 6-million-euro target.

The government had already pledged to pay 5 million euros toward the sculpture’s purchase price of 11 million euros.

“Wisdom of the Earth” depicts a female figure sitting with folded arms and her legs pulled up. It is one of just a few Brancusi works remaining in his homeland.