Supporting the tradition of Lāčplēsis Day, SJSC State Real Estate (hereinafter – SRE) ensure that the residents of Latvia can light candles on the 11 November Embankment. Traditionally (for the seventh year), a steel protective screen designed by architect Pēteris Blūms has been installed around the historic ringwall of Riga Castle. The Chairman of the Board of SRE, Renārs Griškevičs, informs that it is intended to protect the bricks of the historic ringwall of Riga Castle from irreversible thermal damage caused by the candle slag and heat of the flames.
To preserve the restored ringwall of Riga Castle, SRE invites citizens to choose candles in glass containers to protect the restored stone wall of the castle from melted and environmentally unfriendly plastic residues. Considering the current situation in the containment of the pandemic, we invite the townspeople to place the candles individually, following the procedures established in the country (until 20.00 in the evening).
The protective screen for the placing of candles consists of 175 sections with a length of 184 meters and a width of one meter. It is possible to place 60 candles on one section of a protective screen, in total it is possible to place 10.5 thousand candles along the entire length of the screen. In the section where the restoration works of the convent of Riga Castle are in progress, the protective screen will not be installed.
Within the framework of the first phase of the Renovation project for Riga Castle (from 2009 to 2015), the restoration of the surrounding ringwall of the castle was carried out along almost 280 meters of wall with a total area of ~ 950 square meters.
The ringwall of the Riga Castle complex on the side of the Daugava and Vanšu bridge was built as a fence for the Castle Garden in the last quarter of the 19th century. Its design was developed in 1874 by the provincial architect Julius Hagen, partially rebuilding the outer wall of the former Horn bastion.
Since the autumn of 2020, under the supervision of SRE, the restoration of the oldest part (convent) of Riga Castle has been carried out, adapting it to the needs of the National History Museum of Latvia. Phases I and II of the construction works are expected to be completed in 2024. The restoration of the convent of Riga Castle is carried out according to the construction project developed by GP “Rīgas Pils Kastelas projekts”, the author of which is the architect Reinis Liepiņš.
Last year, under the conditions of the pandemic, 17 national development projects with a total budget of 29.5 million euros were completed under the leadership of SRE. Under the conditions of the pandemic, in accordance with the precautionary and safety requirements, work at 54 national construction sites with a total project budget of more than 193 million euros continues under the management of SRE. SRE provides professional real estate management and administration for approximately 400 real estate properties with 1100 buildings of 1.02 million square metres and more than 3600 land properties with an area of 9.6 million square metres. The company is one of 23 Latvian companies that have received the highest platinum award as part of the Sustainability Index of the Institute of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, confirming the good governance and sustainability of its operations. SRE was founded in 1996, and is 100% owned by the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Latvia.
