625 million kronor to preserve ecclesiastical cultural heritage

Ecclesiastical cultural heritage is national heritage that is preserved, used and developed thanks to financing from parishes themselves and the ecclesiastical heritage grant.
Photo: Linda Mickelsson /IKON

The allocation of the ecclesiastical heritage grant for 2015 will enable parishes to share SEK 625 million to preserve and protect the Church’s cultural heritage.

“The grant is absolutely essential for preserving, using and developing the ecclesiastical cultural heritage in the future,” says Henrik Lindblad, coordinator of cultural heritage issues in the Church of Sweden. As in previous years, the priority will be the long-term planning of conservation and maintenance so that the grant is used optimally. Just over 7% of the allocated grant framework is approved for overall inventory and planning work.

Most money from the grant is sought for care and maintenance of church buildings, cemeteries, and furniture, fittings and objects of historic value. More than 26% of applications for funds from the grant are for renovation measures, 25% for non-recurring preservation measures, 13% for damage prevention and preventive safety measures and 14% for conservation of, above all, furniture, fittings and other objects, such as textiles.

FACTS
The Central Board of the Church of Sweden will allocate a total of SEK 625 million in ecclesiastical heritage grants to the dioceses for 2015. As 2015 is the first year in the coming period following Kontrollstationen (Checkpoint) 2014, the decision will only apply if the Swedish Parliament, the Riksdag, grants funding that totals at least the same amount as before, i.e. SEK 460 million. The remaining SEK 165 million will be taken from the accumulated surplus from previous years. The Church Board’s decision may need to be adjusted following the Riksdag’s decision on the budget for 2015, which will be made this autumn. The allocation between the dioceses is shown in the table below. On average, the dioceses have been granted 75% of the framework applied for.