Freedom Monument (Riga)
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The Freedom Monument (Latvian: Brīvības Piemineklis), located in Riga, Latvia, is a memorial to honor soldiers killed in action during the Latvian War of Independence. Unveiled in 1935, the 42 meters high monument of granite, travertine and copper often serves as the focal point of public gatherings and official ceremonies.
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[edit] Design
The sculptures and bas-reliefs of the Freedom Monument, arranged in thirteen groups, depict Latvian culture and history. At the base of the monument are sculptural groups representing Latvia (Latvian: Latvija), Lāčplēsis (Folk hero), Vaidelotis (Baltic pagan priest), Chain breakers (Latvian: Važu rāvēji), Work (Latvian: Darbs), Guards of the Fatherland (Latvian: Tēvzemes sargi), Family (Latvian: Ģimene), Artists (Latvian: Gara darbinieki), 1905 (Latvian: 1905.gads in reference to the Russian Revolution of 1905), and The Battle against the Bermontians on the Iron Bridge (Latvian: Cīņa pret bermontiešiem uz Dzelzs tilta referring to the decisive battle in Riga during the Latvian War of Independence). On the front of the monument in between the groups "Work" and "Guards of the Fatherland", is inscribed a dedication by the Latvian writer Kārlis Skalbe: For Fatherland and Freedom (Latvian: Tēvzemei un Brīvībai). A staircase winds around the monument with two reliefs, Latvian riflemen (Latvian: Latviju strēlnieki) and Latvian people - the singers (Latvian: Latvju tauta - dziedātāja), forming the sides. The core of the monument is composed of tetragonal shapes on top of each other, decreasing in size towards the top. The copper figure of Liberty, is 9 meters tall and in the form of a woman lifting three gilded stars, that symbolize constitutional districts of Latvia: Vidzeme, Latgale and the combined Courland-Semigalia. [1] The base of the monument is made of red and grey granite, while the column is made of travertine. The whole monument is built around a frame of reinforced concrete.
The alignment of the monument is notable: it is turned southwest towards the Daugava river. The figure of Liberty faces this direction, as do the proud-looking sculptures on the pedestal. In contrast to this, the chained figures with bowed heads are facing northeast. Originally it was planned that an elliptical plaza would be built round the foot of the monument, enclosed by a granite wall 1.6 meters high, with benches placed inside it, while a hedge of thujas was to be planted around the outside. This project was not carried out in the 1930s. The idea was reconsidered in the 1980s but shelved again.[2][3]
[edit] Building and restoration
The idea of building a memorial to honor soldiers killed in action during the Latvian War of Independence first emerged in the early 1920s. On 1922-07-27, the Prime Minister of Latvia, Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics, ordered rules to be drawn up for a contest for designs of a "memorial column". The winner of this contest was a scheme proposing a 27-meter-tall column with reliefs of official symbols of Latvia and bas-reliefs of Krišjānis Barons and Atis Kronvalds. This was later rejected after a protest from 57 artists. In October 1923 a new contest was announced, using for the first time the term "Freedom Monument". The contest ended with two winners and a new closed contest was announced in March 1925 but due to disagreement within the jury there was no result.
Finally in October 1929 the final contest was announced. The winner was the design "Shine like a star!" (Latvian: "Mirdzi kā zvaigzne!") by sculptor Kārlis Zāle, who had had success in the previous contests as well. After minor corrections made by the author and supervising architect Ernests Štālbergs, construction began on 18 November 1931.[2] Financed by private donations, the monument was erected by the entrance to the old town, in the same place where the previous central monument of Riga, a bronze equestrian statue of the Russian Emperor Peter the Great, had stood.
The monument was restored twice during the Soviet era, in 1962 and in 1980-1981. It underwent major restoration, in keeping with tradition financed mostly by private donations, in 1998-2001; the restoration was finished with a formal opening on July 24, 2001.[4] The monument is endangered by air polution and weather (chiefly by frost and rain), the monument is located on one of the busiest streets in Riga, in 1990 the area around the monument was made a pedestrian street, however there still are three live streets around it.[2] High concentration of NO2 and SO2 has been recorded near the monument, together with water causing corrotion of materials of the monument. The porous travertine has gradualy crumbles over time and its pores fill with soot and particles of sand causing travertine to blacken. High concentration of sulphur has been found on stone surfaces of the monument[5][6]
[edit] Guard of Honor
The guard of honor that had been present from the unveiling of the monument until it was removed in 1940 shortly after the occupation of Latvia, was renewed on 1992-11-11.[2] The guards are soldiers of The Company of Guard of Honor of the Battalion of Headquarters of National Armed Forces (Latvian: Nacionālo Bruņoto spēku Štāba bataljona Goda sardzes rota). The guard is not required to be in the post in bad weather conditions and if the temperatures are below -10 °C or above +25 °C. There are three or four pairs of honor guards, chief of the guard, who commands the change of honor guard, and two watchmen, who look out for safety of the honor guards, in each of two weekly shifts. Normally the guard changes every hour between 9am and 6pm. After an hour on watch the honor guards have two hours of free, that they spend in their rooms at Minisrtry of Defense.[7] Since September 2004 guards also patrol every half hour during their watch - they march off from the base of the monument and march twice along each side of the monument and then return to their posts.[8] The guards are required to be 1.82 meters tall and in good health, as they are required to stand without moving for half an hour.[9][10]
[edit] Political issues
[edit] After World War II
After the end of World War II, there were plans to demolish the monument, although little written evidence is available to historians and most of the research is based on verbal testimony (some however believe that written evidence might still exist in classified Russian archives). On 1949-09-19 (according to verbal testimony, the issue was first raised as early as October 1944) the Council of People's Commissars of the Latvian SSR proposed the restoration of the statue of the Russian Emperor Peter the Great. While they did not expressly call for the demolition of the Freedom Monument, the only way to restore the statue to its original position would have been to tear down the monument, the destruction of which is thus implicit in the suggestion. The result of the debate is unrecorded, but since the monument still stands the proposition was presumably rejected. The Soviet sculptor Vera Mukhina (1889-1953; a former student of Kārlis Zāle and designer of the monumental sculpture Worker and Kolkhoz Woman) is sometimes credited with the rescue of the monument, but there is no written evidence to support this. Her son has claimed that she took part in a meeting where the fate of the monument was discussed, at which her opinion supposedly was that the monument had very high artistic value and that its demolition might hurt the most sacred feelings of the Latvian people. Also, although some historians dispute it, some witnesses claim that in the summer of 1963 the issue of demolition was raised again. It was decided however that it was too late for demolition, as such a move might cause public discontent.[11]
During the post war Soviet years of Latvia, the symbolism of the Freedom Monument was reinterpreted according to official Communist propaganda. The three stars were said to stand for the newly created Baltic Soviet Republics - Estonian SSR, Latvian SSR, and Lithuanian SSR - held by Mother Russia and the monument was even claimed to have been erected after World War II as a sign of popular gratitude toward the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin for his "liberation" of the Baltic States.[12][11] Ironically, it was considered a crime by the Communist authorities to lay flowers at the foot of the monument.[13]
[edit] Independence movement
Despite propaganda, the Freedom Monument became a powerful symbol of anti-Soviet resistance, serving as the focus of gatherings in the late 1980s during the early stages of the drive for independence. On 1987-06-14, some 5,000 people rallied illegally to commemorate the victims of Stalinian deportations and openly laid flowers at the monument for the first time after the Soviet occupation in a ceremony organized by human rights group Helsinki-86, while in response Soviet government organised bicycle race at the monument on the time when ceremony was planed.[14] Helsinki-86 organized another flower-laying ceremony on August 23 same year to commorate anniversary of Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, then the crowd was thined using jets of water and afterwards Soviet militia blocked the Monument on these dates and November 18, anniversary of proclamation of Latvia in 1918.[15] On 1988-07-21 people rallied at the monument to commemorate occupation of Latvia.[16]
[edit] The 16 March
In modern days, a notable issue has been events at monument on March 16, the commemoration day of veterans of the Latvian Legion of the Waffen-SS, who fought the Soviet Union during World War II, that has been observed in Latvia since 1990. In 1998 Russian mass media started to criticize the day as glorification of Nazism.[17] In the following years Russian government also protested against the event.[18] In 2000 Latvian government abolished the day as official commemoration day, however the day is still observed unofficially and has since evolved in political fight between Russian and Latvian nationalists. [19] The Latvian government tried to bring situation under control by going so far that in 2006, not only the events planned by nationalist organizations were not approved, but the monument was fenced, as it was announced by Riga city council, for restoration, however this statement was later questioned, as politicians named various other reasons for the move and the enclosed area was much larger than needed for restoration, and the weather didn't seem appropriate for restoration.[20] The government was criticized for being unable to ensure public safety and freedom of speech. Latvian mass media compared the actions of government officials with actions of Soviet officials in late 80s and reported that no other government before had fenced the monument for political reasons. It was also speculated that actual reason for actions of government was preparation for upcoming NATO Summit 2006 in Riga The unapproved events took place despite the ban and 65 participants were arrested by Latvian police, reportedly among the participants were foreigners as well, two of the arrested participants were citizens of Estonia.[21] As restoration on spring 2006 actually took place the fence remained in place after March 16 and caused further public discontent as March 25 is memorial day of victims of communist genocide, the fence was removed for the memorial day, but when President of Latvia Vaira Vīķe Freiberga arrived at the monument on March 25 to lay flowers she was confronted by participants of commemorative events, who criticized her for the fence saying that it is offending and apparently cried out insults addressed to the president, who lost her nerve and said that the people "should think with head" and "Ask to those who did not remove that fence, not to those who fought for it to be removed".[22] In 2007, the law that called for approval to arrange gatherings was ruled out as unconstitutional and government mobilized the police force to guard neighborhood of the monument and the day went by relatively peacefully. [23] It should also be noted that the veteran organizations Daugavas Vanagi and Latvijas Nacionālo karavīru biedrība has announced that they dissociate themselves from ultra-radicals who organize processions at the monument and advised patriotic Latvians to attend other events and help elderly veterans. [24]
[edit] Fun facts
- Today, the Freedom Monument is regarded as one of the most important national symbols of Latvia.[25]
- The monument is featured on the proposed Latvian 2 euro coin.[26]
- The Monument (or sometimes only the statue of Liberty on top of it) is unofficially called Milda.[27]
[edit] See also
[edit] References and notes
- ^ Statue of Liberty, retrieved: 2007-02-07
- ^ a b c d "Latvijas Enciklopēdija" (I sējums) Rīga 2002 SIA "Valērija Belokoņa izdevniecība" ISBN 9984-9482-1-8
- ^ The Freedom Monument retrieved on 15 February 2007
- ^ Brīvības pieminekļa atklāšanā skanēs Zigmara Liepiņa kantāte Delfi.lv (BNS) 2001-06-21, retrieved on 2007-02-15
- ^ Environmental Influences on Cultural Heritage of Latvia by G. Mezinskis, L. Krage, M. Dzenis Faculty of Materials Science and Applied Chemistry, Riga Technical University
- ^ http://www.arcchip.cz/w10/w10_sidraba.pdf New Materials for Conservation of Stone Monuments in Latvia] by Inese Sidraba Centre for Conservation and Restoration of Stone Materials, Institute of Silicate Materials, Riga Technical University
- ^ Dienests kā atbildīgs un interesants darbs bdaugava.lv 2006-11-16, retrieved: 2007-03-09
- ^ Godasardze pie Brīvības pieminekļa veiks ceremoniālu patrulēšanu apollo.lv (BBI) 2004-09-20, retrieved 2007-03-09
- ^ Bruņoto spēku seja Dialogi.lv 2004-11-17, retrieved: 2007-03-09
- ^ Brīvības simbola sargs staburags.lv 2004-11-15, retrieved: 2007-03-09
- ^ a b Brīvības pieminekli uzspridzināt, Pēteri I vietā… Apollo.lv (Latvijas Avīze) 2006-05-05, retrieved on 2007-02-17
- ^ Brīvības Piemineklis, by Jānis Siliņš, Riga : Brīvības Pieminekļa Komitejas Izdevums (The Freedom Monument Committee), 1935, retrieved on 2007-02-07
- ^ George Bush: NATO will defend freedom worldwide Regnum News Agency, 2006-11-29, retrieved: 2007-02-07
- ^ Latvia Business Guide retrieved: 2007-02-07
- ^ "Helsinki – 86" rīkotās akcijas 1987. gadā, retrieved: 2007-03-19
- ^ Lūzums. No milicijas līdz policijai by Jānis Vahers, Ilona Bērziņa Nordik, 2006 ISBN 9984-792-16-1 [1]
- ^ 16. marts Latviešu leģiona vēstures kontekstā by Antonijs Zunda, professor of Latvian University, retrieved on 2006-03-16
- ^ Moscow Calls Latvia SS March Amoral, Perverted The Moscow News, 2006-03-16, retrieved: 2007-02-07
- ^ Latvian Police Stops Unauthorized SS March The Moscow News, 2006-03-16, retrieved: 2007-03-17
- ^ Brīvības pieminekļa koka mētelītis Poiltika.lv 2006-03-14, retrieved 2007-03-18
- ^ Latvijas jaunāko laiku vēsturē ierakstīta jauna 16. marta lappuse Archived press coverage regarding 2006-03-16 (Neatkarīgā; Diena; Latvijas Vēstnesis; Latvijas Avīze; Nedēļa), retrieved on 2007-03-17
- ^ Prezidente iebilst kritikai 2006-03-27, retrieved: 2007-03-19
- ^ Policija Rīgas centrā gatavojas 16.marta pasākumiem Delfi.lv 2007-03-16, retrieved: 2007-03-19
- ^ 'Daugavas Vanagi' un Latvijas Nacionālo karavīru biedrība: Nepolitizēsim 16.martu delfi.lv 2007-03-13, retrieved: 2007-03-19
- ^ National symbols of Latvia, retrieved: 2007-03-09
- ^ On the Latvian euro coins - the folk maiden, the Freedom Monument and the national coat of arms 2006-10-09, retrieved on 2007-03-09
- ^ http://www.vpui.gov.lv/ retrieved on 2007-02-15
[edit] Further reading
- Brīvības piemineklis - tautas celts un aprūpēts Brīvības pieminekļa atjaunošanas fonds 2002 ISBN 9984192539
[edit] External links