Culture, Estonia, Financial Services, Legislation, Real Estate

Previously the deadline of registration for the auction had been adjourned from April 18 to May 5, the trustee, Eve Selberg, said.

"On Thursday the auction was called off altogether," said Kerli Kase, representative of the creditors and a member of the bankruptcy committee. She said the cancelation had been requested by several parties, including the Interior Ministry.

Kase said a meeting is due to take place at the ministry in a couple of weeks' time and the future of the church building might be clearer by then.

A court declared St. Alexander's of Narva bankrupt in April 2015 because of the small congregation's inability to meet the financial obligations taken in connection with the reconstruction of the church building. The bankruptcy petition was filed by the construction company AS Eviko and the congregation's debt at the time it was declared bankrupt allegedly amounted to more than 2.1 million euros.

At the end of March this year the general meeting of creditors decided to put the building of St. Alexander's of Narva up for auction with a starting price of 500,000 euros.

Archbishop of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELK) Urmas Viilma announced on April 25 a fundraising campaign to support the bankrupt congregation and salvage its assets.

The government has spent more than 2 million euros to help restore the Lutheran church in the border city now inhabited mostly by Russian-speakers, one million euros of which was provided via a regional competitiveness program of the Enterprise Estonia foundation.