"The roof of the Cathedral, namely the eastern part, is currently under temporary reinforcement. The roof is fixed externally with wooden linings. This is the second time it has been torn off, because the first time it was torn off a few years ago and then it remained with temporary fixings. For these two years it stood, but this year it was torn off," says Ronalds Lūsis, head of the Riga Cathedral reconstruction.
The roof needs more than €150,000 and the management of the Cathedral hopes that the money will be allocated soon so that all the necessary work can be done by the end of the year.
However, the storm-damaged roof is only one of the Cathedral's problems. Cracks in the walls and subsidence of the foundations are urgent problems. If nothing is done, the Cathedral may have to close.
"There have been precedents of some plaster coming off again in the vaults. Because sinking happens and it happens unpredictably. Critical indicators have been reached, engineers have given us pretty bad opinions. The hole in the Cathedral Square has also not been filled in, which is affecting the building from the outside, so we are in a precarious situation," said Lūsis.
The fight for the renovation of the Cathedral has been going on for almost 20 years. The problem is that the funding comes in waves. The European money made it possible to repair the roof, otherwise it would have collapsed. The money that was left over went to repair the tower. At the moment, the foundations of the church are the most important thing to be resolved. It was not included in the European funding because the costs are very high.
Anna Ancāne, Head of the Architecture and Art Department at the State Inspection for Cultural Heritage, also stresses that the Cathedral urgently needs a solution and that the foundations need to be strengthened first and foremost.
"The crumbling of the foundations brings with it deformations that can be dangerous for the building itself. Therefore, no structural engineer could give a hundred percent guarantee of complete safety that there are no concerns for its future use. Therefore, a set of measures to strengthen the foundations would have to be carried out in the fairly near future," she explains.
The work should not be carried out in stages but should take place continuously over a period of about three years. The money should therefore be allocated in such a way that it is sufficient for a certain period of time. She stresses that this is an iconic and unique site in the fabric of Riga's historic centre, which must be protected, so the work must not be delayed.
However, there is a second problem: the Cathedral is linked to the Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation, and according to cultural heritage experts, this issue should be considered in conjunction with the reconstruction of the Cathedral. In other words, there should be a unified vision or plan of how to do it.
"The main problem is that these two properties are connected. Both the Cathedral and the museum have common communications and cannot be dealt with in isolation from each other, so a holistic view would be needed," Ancāne outlines the situation.
Culture Ministry's representatives agree that renovation work should be carried out both at the cathedral and the museum.
According to the Ministry, the Archbishop of Riga, Jānis Vanags, has written to the Ministry to inform it of the urgent need to strengthen the foundations of the Riga Cathedral. The letter estimates the cost of the urgent work at EUR 16.6 million. It is not yet clear where this money will come from.
"The Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Finance are working together to find a solution, knowing full well that it is not possible to split the work into installments at this time and that funding is needed over three years. At the request of the Museum and the Ministry of Culture, State Real Estate is carrying out a technical study in the buildings of the Museum of History and Navigation as part of the ensemble of buildings of the Riga Cathedral [..]," the Ministry explained.
After receiving the results of the inspections, the Ministry will be able to say what condition the museum buildings are in, what investments are needed in them, and finalise the development strategy for the museum, which includes the redevelopment of the buildings.
It is already known that the implementation of urgent works in the museum complex will require approximately EUR 110,000, for which the Ministry promises to review the budgetary resources allocated for the improvement of cultural buildings.
