Apparently, hot weather does not have a good effect on some deputies’ ability to work, when thoughts of demolishing churches come into their heads.
Riigikogu member Hanah Lahe (Reform Party) built a mini-park in her parking space in front of Toompea Castle last week. A park could really be created instead of the entire Riigikogu parking lot. However, his party colleagues offer much more radical ways to add greenery to the City Center.
An area the size of one parking space with a couple of chairs and plants looks good against the background of gray asphalt. It is perhaps a bit too much to call it a park, but I think it is a great idea: instead of the Riigikogu parking lot, a new park could indeed be created in Toompea.
Mario Kadastik, a member of the cool party, obviously wants to leave his gorgeous Tesla in the existing parking lot and suggested that the park should be created instead of the Nevsky Cathedral – after all, there was once a green area there. In 1900, the cathedral really rose above the green area. However, I admit that over the decades and centuries, greenery has both decreased and increased in large quantities.
Kadastik’s idea of demolishing the cathedral does not deserve a serious discussion. Nevsky Cathedral is important both as a historical church and as an architectural monument. It is probably not an exaggeration to say that it plays an important role in the lives of tens of thousands of Orthodox Tallinners. Great interest in the cathedral is always shown by foreign tourists, who are particularly active in Tallinn during the summer. There is probably no need to even ask the views of heritage protection and UNESCO – the cathedral must remain in its place.
There are many green areas in Tallinn – we are constantly developing existing ones and creating new ones. Sometimes even a minor intervention is enough: for example, the temporary pop-up park on the Town Hall square has been very well received by people. There is certainly potential for adding landscaping in many parts of the city, including Toompea. I believe that everyone would benefit if the stately cars of the Riigikogu members were moved to parking lots a few hundred meters away and more trees or bushes and benches were added in front of Toompea Castle. You don’t have to start tearing down cathedrals with Bolshevik enthusiasm.
Apparently, hot weather does not have a good effect on some deputies’ ability to work, when thoughts of demolishing churches come into their heads. I recommend Kadastik and the Riigikogu members who agree with him to go to a park – for example Komandanti aeda next to the Riigikogu – to cool down a bit.
