Restoration of the Socage house of Turaida Museum Reserve is completed; doors will be open to visitors on Museum Night

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On the eve of the state centenary, SJSC “State Real Estate” (SRE) has completed the restoration of the special cultural monument – the Socage house of Turaida Museum Reserve. It is planned that this historical building will open its doors to a wider circle of visitors on Museum Night on 19 May, where visitors will be able to observe the restored building itself and the process of restoration which will be displayed in a special exhibition.

“The Socage house is among the most significant projects of the programme “100 Addresses for Latvia's Centenary”, started by SRE. We are really pleased that we can deliver this historically significant and visually and aesthetically beautiful Latvian building to the museum and all Latvian people on the centenary of Latvia. It will serve as an irreplaceable historical testimony about the everyday life of the manor and the corvée period, a significant place for everyone to stop and learn about the long way of Latvia to its independence,” states the Chairman of the Board of SRE Ronalds Neimanis.

Thanks to successful cooperation with the customer, the constructor “RERE Meistari” and other involved parties, SRE has implemented the project faster than planned initially; therefore, this historic heritage is put into operation already in March.

“The Socage house has a several centuries’ long history, and we had a chance to experience it anew. Our masters embodied in the rebirth of this building not only the building itself, but also craft skills, which have already disappeared in many places. This museum is special for us – a handiwork done from the heart, created by combining centuries old traditions and the best modern technologies,” indicates Guntis Āboltiņš-Ābolinš, the Chairm of the Board of JSC “RERE Grupa”.
Restoration of the Socage house, a specially protected cultural monument built in the 18th century, which is a part of Turaida manor complex, started in 2015, when a restoration construction design was developed. Construction works were commenced in the autumn of 2016 and already in May 2017 the ridgepole celebrations took place. The object construction costs constituted 622,000 euros in total, which is 100% state funding.

Only foundations of the building and a small part of the building itself, which was in bad technical condition, had partially preserved until nowadays. In order to retain the authentic appearance of the building, boulders of the old foundations were used, adobe walls and reed roof were built during the restoration works. The historical building itself and exhibitions displayed in the building will serve as a symbol of the corvée period and the road of Latvian peasants to establishing the Latvian state. The new exhibition “On the Way to the Establishment of the State of Latvia. Peasant Liable to Corvee. Farmer. Citizen”, which will replace the upcoming temporary exhibition, will be opened on 4 May 2019.

All in all, SRE currently implements 32 significant development projects worth 135 million euros. The company is in charge of more than 500 building properties with an area of 1.8 million m2 and more than 4,100 land properties with an area of more than 10 million m2. The company was established in 1996, and the holder of 100% of its shares is the Ministry of Finance. SRE employs 580 persons.