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On Saturday, 18 May, during the five-hour-long Night of Museums more than 4,000 people visited the main building of the Saeima, where they could see the interior of the building and the Plenary Chamber, as well as several exhibitions. The exposition A Green Parliament: The Life of Paper gave an insight into how the use of paper in the parliament has changed over time and how paper is recycled – the process that transforms office waste paper to brand new products. The exposition has been created in cooperation with the Līgatne paper mill.

In the Voting Room, there was an exhibition of photographs from the collections of the state forestry company Latvijas Valsts Meži and nature photographer Andris Eglītis. The Library of the Saeima featured an exhibition marking the 140th Anniversary of the Latvian National Song Festival, which gave an insight into the history of Latvia’s unique national traditions – choir singing and the Song Festival.

In order to protect the environment, since 2010 cardboard containers for the collection of waste paper to be recycled have been placed throughout the premises of the Saeima. Every year the Saeima sends six tons of waste paper for recycling. This amount of waste paper can be recycled into one million paper sheets.

Since the working documents have been made available electronically, the number of MPs who prefer electronic files is steadily increasing with each convocation. Currently, more than 70 out of 100 MPs have discontinued the use of printed documents in the plenary sittings. Coupled with other paper-saving initiatives, switching to electronic documents has resulted in a paper consumption drop of more than three tonnes a year since 2010.

As a part of its environmentally responsible mindset, the parliament has also installed a bicycle parking rack and replaced approximately 80% of incandescent bulbs with energy-saving equivalents. Furthermore, the Saeima has established a tradition of annual spring collective work day dubbed A Gift to Latvia, during which the MPs and staff members of the Saeima engage in activities such as restoring the protective belt of sand dunes in Jūrmala City ruined by autumn storms, planting aspen and pine trees and cleaning up the family home of Jānis Čakste, President of the Constitutional Assembly and the first President of Latvia.

The Saeima has been participating in the Night of Museums for four years in a row.  The Night of Museums is an international annual event held across Europe. The main theme of this year’s event was Colour green – forest.

The Saeima also welcomes visitors to book a guided tour on regular business days.

Photos from the Night of Museums in the Saeima are available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/saeima/sets/72157633509703619/
Video from the Night of Museums in the Saeima is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME1u8J4PfbE
Infographic: http://infogr.am/Saeima---videi-draudzgs-parlaments/
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Saeima Press Service