Construction, Culture, Estonia, Financial Services, Legislation, Real Estate

"Thus, St. Alexander's of Narva will be 'saved' jointly by the Estonian state and Estonia's Lutheran church, as both have expressed to one another readiness to put up half of the purchase sum," Viilma said on his Facebook page.

The archbishop last month announced a fundraising campaign to buy out the church building and support the bankrupt congregation. "My call to continue collecting funds is still very relevant. The fundraising drive goes on, because the required sum is not yet completed," Viilma wrote. As of Friday, more than 27,000 euros had been donated.

The evening newscast of the public broadcaster ERR on Friday quoted Interior Minister Hanno Pevkur as saying that it is very important for the building of St. Alexander's of Narva, which had been put up for auction to cover the bankrupt congregation's debt, to remain in public use and that the building will probably come into state ownership, but exactly how and on which conditions this will happen is open at this point.

On Thursday it turned out that the auction of St. Alexander's had been canceled following several requests, in particular by the Interior Ministry. The ministry and the creditors will now open negotiations and there is a realistic possibility that the church building will end up in state ownership.

St. Alexander's of Narva was declared bankrupt in April 2015 because of the small congregation's inability to meet its financial obligations related to the reconstruction of the church building. At the end of March this year the general meeting of creditors decided to put the building up for auction with a starting price of 500,000 euros.

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 of which was provided via a regional competitiveness program of the Enterprise Estonia foundation.