Culture, Estonia, Financial Services, Legislation, Real Estate

"I dare say today that the decision that the church will be bought out has been made in  principle," Viilma told the evening news of ERR after a meeting on Tuesday of the government committee set up to promote cooperation between the government and the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church.

The minister of interior, Hanno Pevkur, said the church will remain in public use. He said it remains to be decided what legal body, such as a foundation specially set up for that purpose, the state real estate management company RKAS, or Eesti Kontsert, for instance, will manage the building.

Also the price at which the building will be bought remains open.

St. Alexander's of Narva was declared bankrupt in April 2015 because of the small congregation's inability to meet the financial obligations assumed in connection with 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.

Earlier this month it turned out that the auction of St. Alexander's has been canceled following several requests, in particular by the Interior Ministry, and there is a realistic possibility that the church building will end up in state ownership.

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