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On Thursday, 25 July, the Education, Culture and Science Committee of the Saeima met with representatives from the Chancery of the President, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Finance, state property management company Valsts Nekustamie Īpašumi, State Inspection for Heritage Protection, State Police, museums and construction companies to discuss the Riga Castle issue and agreed that it is necessary to urgently restore the Riga Castle after the fire and to ensure as soon as possible that the cultural and historic heritage is protected.
The Committee will ask the government to form a group for steering the Riga Castle restoration project that will coordinate the cooperation necessary for restoring the building after the fire. The working group will need a comprehensive approach as it will have to deal simultaneously with the Castle, its historic interiors and the museum artefacts; furthermore, the Riga Castle is an important landmark that requires a separate organisational unit and human resources, said Ina Druviete, Committee Chairperson, when explaining the need for the working group. She stressed: “It will have to tackle various issues looking for both short-term and long-term solutions. Inter alia, it will probably have to consider moving the museum to other premises”.
In order to speed up the restoration of the Riga Castle, MPs also agreed to ask the Ministry of Finance to find funds for dealing with the direct damage from the fire.
Members of the Committee expressed their concerns with regard to the inaction of the involved parties when urgent conduct was necessary – for example, failure to install a temporary roof. Representatives of the museums located in the Riga Castle informed MPs that during downpours, rain water runs from the upstairs down to the ground floor. Juris Dambis, Head of the State Inspection for Heritage Protection, also emphasised that each day brings new damage to the Castle and the museum artefacts.
Representatives from the construction companies explained that they still have not received a permit to start installing a temporary roof in several parts of the building. Baiba Strautmane, Chairperson of the state property management company, reported that insurers of the Riga Castle have not finished the expert assessment and thus builders may not begin these works. Jānis Vucāns (Union of Greens and Farmers), member of the Committee, highlighted that it is an emergency which requires unorthodox solutions.
When builders explained that it will take four to five days to install a temporary roof in each part of the Castle, MPs expressed their indignation at the fact that they are not doing their best to accelerate the process, for instance, by involving other construction companies. The builders reported that it is not technically possible to do this work faster.
The Committee Chairperson thanked the museum staff for their selfless efforts in saving cultural and historic heritage and pointed out that the Committee will follow up on the developments when it reviews the Riga Castle issue in autumn.
On the night of 20 June 2013, fire broke out in the Riga Castle. An area of around 3,200 square metres was affected. It took 16 hours to extinguish the fire whose cause is still unknown.