In the course of the competition, financing will be granted to the projects where the anticipated result will facilitate preservation and restoration of cultural and historical monuments of religious parishes of various confessions.
Already from the very beggining, one of the priorities of the Rietumu Bank Charity Fund (RBLF) has been the support of Latvian religious communities. Since establishment of the Fund, many projects have been implemented with the aim of preserving Latvian sacral culture monuments.
With time, the Rietumu Bank Charity Fund started receiving increasingly more project applications for restoration of churches or urgent repairs. Therefore, in 2012 a decision was taken to arrange a competition where all sacral projects could be united in one programme. The competition of “Latvian Sacral Heritage” projects provides representatives of all confessions with equal opportunities for restoring significant cultural and historical sites and objects, which are important with regard to supporting the spiritual culture, as well as preservation of architectural monuments.
The submitted projects are evaluated by the jury, which includes also representatives of the State Inspection for Heritage Protection, who during all those years helped to determine priority trends for the support with their experience and advice.
“Restoration and preservation of Latvian sacral culture heritage is a very important area of the Fund’s operation. During these years, we have seen such a great response on the part of representatives of different confessions and parishes that it stimulated us to arrange the competition repeatedly. Owing to this programme, many significant sacral heritage facilities of earlier periods have been restored, and now we can see them in their initial authentic form. We will continue this work, as special efforts must always be applied to preserve historical buildings and artefacts, the condition of which is inevitably degraded by the impact of time and human activities,” acknowledges Chairman of the Board of the Rietumu Bank Charity Fund Inga Sina.
Last year more than 100 applications were evaluated within the framework of the project, which anticipated restoration of buildings, towers, and cupolas of different churches, as well as preservation of separate unique interior objects. In 2014 the Rietumu Bank Charity Fund supported churches of nine different confessions from all regions of Latvia, such as: restoration of the Alsunga Catholic Church organ, renovation of the altar dome of the Rugaji St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, restoration of altar paintings in Limbazi Evangelical Lutheran Church, etc.
In accordance with the competition regulations of this year, an application for receiving support can be submitted by any religious organisation or society registered in Latvia, which has in its possession or usage cultural monuments of national or local significance protected by state. This year the total volume of financing is EUR 24 000, up to EUR 4500 per one project. Applications can be submitted from 20 March through to 19 April.
The projects approved as a result of the competition for granting the financing will be published on the RBLF webpage,
www.rblf.lv.
Eleonora Gailisha Mass Media and Public Relations
Phone: +371-67020506
Fax: +371-67020563
E-mail:
egailisha@rietumu.lv
