On Tuesday, November 12, at the Cabinet external meeting in Alūksne, the Ministry of Culture gave an overview of the co-financing of European financial instruments for the preservation and development of Latvia's cultural heritage and illustrated the key role of these investments in regional development and the quality of culture.
In total, since 2007, under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture, three major support programs for the preservation and development of Latvia's cultural heritage have been implemented, attracting support from foreign financial instruments of more than 198 million EUR.
From 2007 to 2013, almost 49 million EUR was co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); projects were implemented on 25 cultural environment objects all over Latvia. The largest of them were the three regional concert halls - Latgale Embassy “GORS”, Vidzeme Concert Hall in Cēsis and “Lielais Dzintars” Concert Hall in Liepāja. Within the program investments have also been made in five socioeconomically significant objects, including the reconstruction of the Latvian National Museum of Art and the creation of the Mark Rothko Art Centre in Daugavpils. While within 17 projects support was provided for the preservation of privately owned culture monuments, including the restoration of important churches belonging to all major denominations in Latvia.
With support of the European Economic Area financial instrument in the amount of 6.2 million EUR, from 2009 to 2014 eight cultural heritage sites were reborn in Latvia, including Rainis Museum Tadenava, Rainis and Aspazija’s summer house in Jūrmala and their house in Riga, the port warehouse building at the Open Air Museum, the Ludza Grand Synagogue and the Rēzekne Green Synagogue.
During this programming period from 2014 to 2020, ERDF co-financing in the amount of 143.5 million EUR allowed renovation of more than 60 places of cultural history throughout Latvia - castles and castle ruins, manors, churches, nature trails, open-air stages, industrial heritage buildings - and the creation of new, modern tourism services there. In turn, five large projects are being co-financed by ERDF in Riga, which will enable the revitalisation of the brownfields for cultural and sports functionality.
The examples of many of the projects carried out show a clear, positive impact on the economic activity of the territory, the growth of tourism, and the consumption of culture by promoting the development of businesses in the surrounding area.
The co-financing has enabled the carrying out of projects that are highly valued in Latvia and internationally. For example, for the new exhibit in the trunk of Alūksne Station, design company H2E received the “Best of Show” award at the SEGD Global Design Awards in 2019, as well as the award in the category “Global Design Honor Awards”. Projects such as the Rainis Museum Tadenava, the Daugavpils Fortress and the Latvian National Museum of Art have also received international awards.
