Norway to support crisis resilience in Estonia's heritage sector

TALLINN - Memorandums of understanding were signed on Tuesday for the 2021-2028 funding period of the European Economic Area and Norway grants, under which nearly six million euros is to be allocated to strengthening Estonia's cultural heritage sector against crises.

"Cultural heritage is part of our identity and national resilience. Recent years have shown how important it is to build crisis preparedness and resilience in the field of heritage so that our cultural memory and legacy are preserved for future generations," said Merilin Piipuu, deputy secretary general for cultural heritage at the Ministry of Culture.

Between 2026 and 2030, the grant totaling 5,996,000 euros will be used to develop a systematic readiness framework for heritage protection and enhance crisis management capabilities. Planned activities include preparing crisis plans and risk assessments for the sector, building evacuation capacity for priority cultural objects, digitizing cultural heritage, testing new storage solutions for museum collections, and organizing training sessions and international cooperation seminars.

Specific actions will be agreed upon in the fall. The Ministry of Culture's project is part of the resilience program coordinated by the Ministry of the Interior.

The EEA and Norway grants aim to reduce economic and social disparities in the European Economic Area and strengthen bilateral relations between donor and beneficiary countries. In previous funding periods, these grants have supported the restoration and development of manor schools in Estonia and the conservation of historic town centers.