No more carrying a grand piano down the stairs, musicians changing in stairwell rooms, and endless lines to amenities during concert interludes - the long-awaited reconstruction of the Great Guild promises plenty, including, finally, an elevator in the building. Zane Koroļa, the author of the architectural concept and idea of the rebuilding project, says: "There will be an increase in seating and capacity, the hall interior will be rebuilt completely. If we can say that in the rest of the Guild Building, we have been very adamant and tried our utmost to keep everything authentic, then the hall, the main heavyweight in this building, the main heart that needs to beat, is expecting the biggest changes.'"
Residents of the Great Guild - the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra - will begin packing their belongings as early as next week.
"We will work to make the move in June while musicians are on holiday," explains Indra Lūkina, director of the orchestra. "In fact, we're moving everything over in June and we're starting rehearsals already in July in the House of Congress hall that we will have the next two years for rehearsals."
The competition from five construction contractors was selected by SIA "RERE MEISTARI" and the renovation of the ancient concert hall will take place in two rounds. The planned investments amount to EUR 14.5 million, and according to the Minister for Culture, all the money needed for the project has been provided – the Ministry has raised European funds.
"This is one of those projects where we don't really get a deadline extension, this is the recovery funding coming with a very specific deadline, we have to finish those jobs by spring 2026 and there are not really any fallback options there," notes Minister of Culture Agnese Logina (Progressives).
The author of the redevelopment project outlines that accents from previous centuries on different floors of the building will be highlighted after the reconstruction of the building, but much will remain the same: "Both the staircase designed by Modris Ģelzis will be preserved, [..] the loggia, the staircase at the staff entrance, we intend to remove the linoleum and expose the wooden steps, everywhere we have tried to remove the Eurorepair off and expose exactly those natural materials and original solutions."
According to current forecasts, the first concerts in the renovated building will take place in autumn 2026.
