The Latvian church body will unite with the German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Latvia.
Previously these two bodies and the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad had laid their historical claim to the building, heretofore managed by the Riga City Council.
The news was confirmed at a committee meeting at the Latvian parliament on September 5.
"The Riga St. Peter's Church will have a manager, and we hope we'll write it into law until Latvia's centenary. Today it was confirmed to the committee that the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia will unite with the German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Latvia. It's a historic decision that will enable returning the ... church to its historical owners," said MP Ilze Viņķele (Unity).
Currently neither the building on Skārņu street 19 in Old Riga, nor the land below it are registered in the land register, but according to the Land Register it's managed by the Riga Municipality.
The churches are yet to unite and the law giving them full ownership is yet to be passed through the Saeima.
As Latvian Television reported this spring, the German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Latvia had a moral claim to the church as it had historically - from the 17th to the early 20th century - been a German parish owned by Germans.
While the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad suggested the churches should unite and that the Riga City Council receive only the money needed for upkeep from the circa €700,000 a year-generated by the 72-meter sightseeing tower.
Previously the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad also laid claim to the building but appears to have withdrawn it, not wanting to unite with the Latvian church body as it had explicitly denied ordination to women.
