Portal:Latvia/Selected article
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Portal:Latvia/Selected article/1
Portal:Latvia/Selected article/2 The Popular Front of Latvia (Latvijas Tautas Fronte in Latvian) was a political organization in Latvia in late 1980s and early 1990s which lead Latvia to its independence from the Soviet Union. It was similar to the Popular Front of Estonia and the Sajudis movement in Lithuania.
Latvia, together with Estonia and Lithuania, was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940. While there was relatively little resistance to the occupation, many Latvians remained unhappy with it and waited for a chance to regain independence. Such a chance came in 1980s when Gorbachev attempted to reform the Soviet Union. In particular, Gorbachev's glasnost policy allowed more freedom of speech in the Soviet Union than ever before.
Latvia's independence movement started with small demonstrations for independence and human rights in 1986. The first demonstrations, organized by Helsinki-86, were, however, suppressed by the government of Latvian SSR. The breaking point came in summer 1988. Many prominent Latvians publicly announced their support for increased autonomy for Latvia. Latvian newspapers started writing about aspects of Latvian history which had been banned during the Soviet period (for example, how Latvia had been occupied in 1940). The flag of Latvia which had been banned during the Soviet period was brought back. To summarize, a strong resurgence of Latvian national identity had started.
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During the Early Middle Ages, Grobiņa (or Grobin) was the most important political centre on the territory of Latvia. There was a centre of Scandinavian settlement on the Baltic Sea, comparable in many ways to Hedeby and Birka but probably predating them both. About 3,000 surviving burial mounds contain the most impressive remains of the Vendel Age in Eastern Europe.
The Viking settlement at Grobin was excavated by Birger Nerman in 1929 and 1930. Nerman found remains of an earthernwork stronghold, which had been protected on three sides by the Alanda River. To the period between ca. 650 and ca. 800 may be dated three Vendel Age cemeteries, one of them military in character and analogous to similar cemeteries in Mälaren Valley in Central Sweden, while two others indicate that there was "a community of Gotlanders who were carrying on peaceful pursuits behind the shield of the Swedish military".
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The sculptures and bas-reliefs of the Freedom Monument, arranged in thirteen groups, depict Latvian culture and history. The core of the monument is composed of tetragonal shapes on top of each other, decreasing in size towards the top, completed by a 19 meters high travertine column bearing the copper figure of Liberty lifting three gilded stars. The concept of the monument first emerged in the early 1920s, when the Prime Minister of Latvia, Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics, ordered rules to be drawn up for a contest for designs of a "memorial column". After several contests the monument was finally built at the beginning of the 1930s according to the scheme "Shine like a star!" by Latvian sculptor Kārlis Zāle.
During World War II Latvia was annexed by the USSR and the Freedom Monument was considered for demolition, but no such move was carried out, because of the high artistic value of the monument. Propaganda was used to alter the symbolical meaning of the monument according to Soviet ideology. Yet it remained a symbol of national independence to the general public and on 14 June 1987 about 5,000 people gathered at there to commemorate the victims of the Soviet regime and to lay flowers. This rally began the national independence movement and three years later the independence of Latvia was re-established.
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The Historic Centre of Riga has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the city is particularly notable for its extensive Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) architecture, comparable in significance only with Vienna and Saint Petersburg.
Riga was founded by German traders and missionaries at the site of an ancient settlement of the Livonians, an ancient Finnic tribe, at the junction of the Daugava and Ridzene (Latvian: Rīdzene) rivers. The Ridzene was originally known as the Riga River, at one point forming a natural harbor called the Riga Lake, neither of which exist today. Riga was dominated first by Germans, later by Sweden and then by Russian Empire until Latvia, with Riga as its capital city, thus declared its independence on 18 November 1918. After World War II Latvia was incorporated in to Soviet Union, however it restored its independence in early 1990s.
In 2001, Riga celebrated its 800th anniversary as a city. In the near future, the face of Riga will undergo notable changes. In 2008, the first stage of the new Southern Bridge route across the Daugava will be completed and will help to reduce traffic jams and the amount of traffic in the city centre. Another construction project is the planned Riga Northern Transport Corridor, which is scheduled to start in 2010. The construction of a new landmark — the Latvian National Library building — will beginning in the autumn of 2007 and is due to be built by 2010. Currently discussions are underway in Riga council about the development of the central areas on the left bank of the Daugava. The major dispute surrounds plans to build skyscrapers in Ķīpsala. The construction of 3 buildings in Ķīpsala has already started — the Da Vinci complex (25 floors, construction stopped) and two high-rises called Z-Towers (30 floors).
Portal:Latvia/Selected article/7 The 2006 Riga summit or the 19th NATO Summit was a NATO summit held in Riga, Latvia from November 28 until November 29, 2006. The most important topics discussed were the War in Afghanistan and the future role and borders of the alliance. Further, the summit focused on the alliance's continued transformation, taking stock of what has been accomplished since the 2002 Prague Summit. NATO also committed itself to extend further membership invitations in the upcoming 2008 Bucharest Summit. This summit was the first NATO summit held on territory of a former USSR republic and coincided with CIS' 2006 Minsk Summit of November 28. Roads in the center of Riga were closed down and parking was not allowed at the airport or at several roads, out of fear for car bombs. About 9000 Latvian police officers and soldiers took care of the Summit's security, while more than 450 other airmen from seven European NATO countries were called upon to ensure a no-fly zone above the summit in an operation called Operation Peaceful Summit. This enhanced ongoing Baltic Air Policing activities with additional aircraft, communications and maintenance support.
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