Tallinn planning massive investments for renovation of churches

St. Olaf’s church will receive 350,000 euros for renovations from the municipality

Back in 2001, in order to preserve the cultural and religious heritage of Estonia’s capital, The Tallinn Church Fellowship Programme was created. In 10 years, at a total cost of around 6.4 million euros, 22 shrines, churches and other cultural monuments were restored to their past selves. The programme was put on hold for a brief period, but in 2016 it was allocated funding yet again – although on a smaller scale. The amount of money injected by the municipality has steadily increased since then, with the programme having a total budget of 914,000 euros in 2018.

The newest beneficiary of The Tallinn Church Fellowship Programme is going to be St. Olaf’s church. It was first built in the 12^th century, in honour of the Norwegian king Olaf II. This once magnificent monument, however, has fallen into disrepair. To remedy the situation, Tallinn municipality has allocated 350,000 euros to the restoration of the church. A further 130,000 have been raised by St. Olaf itself. The money will be used for the restoration of the church tower as well as the western façade of the building.

The mayor of Tallinn, Mikhail Kõlvart, stated that “This year, churches receive a total of nearly one million euros from the city budget. In 2016-2019, we have contributed a total of EUR 2.4 million to the restoration work in the historic churches of Tallinn”.