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During a Saeima Education, Culture and Science Committee meeting today, museum representatives said that operations at the castle are being carried out incorrectly. They say that building debris above the museum floors have not been cleared away, coverings have not been properly spread, and water is accumulating, which has seeped into the museum floors and threaten museum collections.

They also reminded that before the castle's reconstruction, one of the works agreed upon was relocating some of the museum collections elsewhere, but that this has since been suspended. Thus, the state does not have anywhere to store the museum collections in a safe place. In order to arrange such storage space, resources and time are needed, but there is not one, nor the other.

The museum representatives said that they feel like hostages in this situation. They are doing everything they can to dry and disinfect the museum rooms, but, at the same time, building debris above them have not cleared away, and water continues to seep in.

As reported, Culture Minister Zaneta Jaunzeme-Grende (All for Latvia!-For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK) said yesterday that an immediate solution must be found for a temporary roof.

''A solution must be found immediately, as Riga Castle is one of the oldest, grandest and most authentic cultural heritage landmarks in the Latvian capital. The same can be said about the museum collections being stored there, which did not suffer irreversible damage, but are currently threatened by rainfall and mould,'' Jaunzeme-Grende points out.

She points out that staff from the museums located in the castle have done a noteworthy job in drying the various rooms and normalizing the micro-climate. However, the temporary roof was unable to hold the recent rainfall and strong winds, thus water continues to seep into the building, making the situation even worse.