Riga - Arms of the Towns of Latvia
Bridge of the Locks
Staring out from old black and white 1930’s National Geographic’s are haunting visions of lost worlds bordering the Baltic Sea which were soon destined to disappear. The great Yiddish culture of Poland, the sailing fleet of the Aland Islands, the Hanseatic Free City of Danzig, Königsberg and East Prussia and the three Baltic Republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The remarkable thing about the Baltic countries is that they existed at all. Three countries with no real natural borders or great natural features other than rivers into the Russian interior and ports on the Baltic. Three countries with distinct languages, cultures, folklore and music. Three countries who traded in the goods of the Russian interior but who always looked westward and became rich as part of the remarkable enterprise known as the Hanseatic League. Perched precariously on the edge of the Russian Bear which looked upon them uncomfortably as gateways for foreign invaders they were granted their freedom by Lenin in 1918 only to have it snatched away by Stalin in 1938 who put Russia’s strategic interests and defence in the coming conflict first.
Then in 1991, in a remarkable twist of history, one of these lost world in the 1930’s Geographic’s came back to life as the Baltic Republics regained their freedom. So it was with some trepidation as to what I would find I found myself on a plane to Riga, the capital of Latvia, the Baltic Republic which regained its independence has grabbed freedom with both hands – a fact emphasised by the extensive coverage of the recent N.A.T.O. summit meeting in Riga. The mundane nature of a two hour flight from London did nothing to dispel the sense of wonder that I was going to a country which had been consumed by war and the cantharis afterwards and had disappeared from the view of the west behind the Iron Curtain – what would I find there?
Riga itself was a rich Hanseatic City and the Old Town preserves mementoes of its golden age in fine merchant buildings and the massive “Brick Gothic” churches typical of the Baltic’s. Latvia is an absorbing country and a place where things are happening with a fast changing scene since 1991 with enormous change and inward capital flows and expertise from Scandinavia & Germany in particular transforming the country, so there is a real buzz about the place. The Latvians are an interesting people with a distinct culture and language and are Lutheran as opposed to the Russians who are Orthodox. The country has suffered terribly in the 20th Century, being invaded and thrashed in both world wars and being occupied by the Nazis and Soviets. In its history Riga has both benefited and suffered for being a strategically located and important port only 300 miles from St. Petersburg so every invader of Russia attempting to cut off its access to the West and the Baltic has had to take Riga and for the same reason Russia saw holding Riga as important to its defence.
Despite its medieval origins, Riga's uniqueness as a city lies in the fact that it boasts the largest collection of Art Nouveau buildings in Europe. Between 1896 and 1913, the city expanded and a housing boom followed. The style which developed in Riga was influenced mainly by German, Austrian and Finnish architects. Mikhail Eisenstein is one of the most famous proponents of the style in Riga. After the revolution of 1905 a distinctively Latvian variation of Art Nouveau developed, known as National Romanticism. Architects started to use traditional Latvian folk elements and natural building materials. Typical elements were steep roofs, heavy structures and the use of ethnographic ornamental motifs.This style, which at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century referred both to architecture and other fields of art, dominated in Riga for a short time, however, it left behind extraordinary colourful architectural examples.
The most famous of the local architects was Mikhail Eisenstein. His son, Sergei, was a pioneer of early cinema. Ironically, Sergei moved to Moscow to make propaganda for the Bolsheviks who despised (and eventually destroyed) the same bourgeoisie that supported his father and fed him as a child.
Art Nouveau District, Alberta Street
This coincided with the period when construction of high-rise residential buildings boomed in Riga and organically found a place in the architecture of Riga. Art Nouveau emerged in response to previous styles, especially to Eclectics, which required following particular historical styles. In contrast, Art Nouveau stresses a complete creative freedom, an expressive flight of fantasy with a tendency to show all utilitarian construction elements as artistic value. Characteristic features of Art Nouveau - sinuous lines, geometrical ornaments – divided into two main directions in Riga: decorative and romantic nationalistic Art Nouveau. Latvian architects, representatives of romantic nationalism, were E. Laube, K. Pēkšēns, A. Vanags, who created unique examples of national architecture (Tērbatas Street 15/17, Brīvības Street 47; 58; 62). Most characteristic examples of decorative Art Nouveau are buildings in Alberta Street constructed by Mikhail Eisenstein. Mikhail Osipovich Eisenstein, (1867, St. Petersburg - 1921, Berlin), was a Russian architect and civil engineer. Being a German Jew, he converted to Orthodox Christianity. He graduated from the Institute of Civic Engineering in St. Petersburg in 1893. He was the designer of a number of the Art Nouveau buildings in Riga. He built several apartment buildings for State Counsellor A. Lebedinsky, including the ones at Alberta iela 4 (1904), 6 (1903) and 13, and at Elizabetes iela 10b (1903).
See Art Nouveau District Riga;
http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/09/art-nouveau-district-riga-latvia.html
His son Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein was a well-known Soviet film director,paricularly famous for the "Battleship Potemkin" featuring the famous (and oft imitated sequence) of the baby's pram carering down the Odessa steps. It presents a dramatised version of the Battleship Potemkin uprising that occurred in 1905 when the crew of a Russian battleship rebelled against their oppressive officers of the Tsarist regime. Potemkin has been called one of the most influential films of all time, and was named the greatest film of all time at the World's Fair at Brussels, Belgium, in 1958. Today the superb Art Nouveau district around Alberta Street is an invigorating visual surprise for the first time visitor and a reminder of the pride Latvians felt in their country and the prosperity they achieved in the years of freedom early in the century and between the two World Wars.
House of the Blackheads
Astronomical Clock
There is a real difference between those who are doing well in the new Latvia and those who have been left behind. Housing stock for instance is generally substandard with a mixture of drab and rundown Soviet style apartment blocks and timber houses. There was a row of "derelict" timber houses behind the hotel but when I looked out at night there were lights on so they were inhabited! Surprisingly congestion is an issue in Riga and the Old Town is a congestion charging zone using ticket operated barriers to control access. There is no metro and the public transport infrastructure is clearly struggling with a mixture of trams, trolley buses and even the dreaded bendy buses!
Of 2.3M in the country 1.1M are Russian and this is a real fault line as they don't necessarily have Latvian (and therefore EC) passports and can't apply for government jobs unless they speak Latvian. The renovated medieval buildings and flashy new cars can't hide the fact that Rīga is still the capital of a country on the mend. The city is something like half Russian / half Latvian and the two groups have little interaction or respect for one another.
Riga airport is brand new and impressive and the team flew there on that excellent airline run by an Irish Accountant for £31 return – incidentally Ryanair’s business model is based on SouthWest Airlines which is run by an Irish-American lawyer called Herb Kelleher, who appears in their adverts clutching a glass of whiskey! We bought a package from Activitybreaks.com for £89 which included transfers, two nights B & B, a dinner with wine in a restaurant and VIP entrance to a top nightclub.
Speaking about Team Building, your Riga correspondent was taken with the range of events offered by the local handling agents, Baltic Events (www.eventstravel.net) which range from bobsleighing to flying MIG 21 fighters. The verbatim “Borat” style flyer for his personal favourite, “The KGB Experience” will give a flavour of these unique team events. Next year?
“You are invited to simple city excursion, but suddenly you will be arrested by KGB soldiers. Shooting or just "welcome schnapps". If welcome event, then tourist will be transported into some ugly place and there interrogation - why here? Spies? We will execute you and give to special secret forces....... And then group leader will come to rescue them and pay ransom......don't kill us, we'll pay.
If group has ordered shooting as well, then activity continues, on the way to shooting ground and somewhere on road James Bond or Charley Angels will free tourists and see ........KGB still alive and you all must be ready to defend yourself.”
Vansu Bridge
Stick to sightseeing in Riga! The old town is richly textured with the wondrously titled “House of the Blackheads”, essentially a palace for visiting Hanseatic merchants. Due to their indulgent lifestyle they developed blackheads and turned this into a little joke by calling this rather rich palace after what was originally its nickname! The old town is a rich and rewarding mix with Swedish gun towers, a castle, museums, Art Deco district and many fine churches including St Peter’s Cathedral in the Baltic brick gothic style. St Petri has a lift to the top of the steeple affording good views of the city and the river Daugava on which it sits.
Statue of The Latvian Riflemen
The Latvian Riflemen, whose statue is in front of the Museum of Occupation which documents the Nazi and Soviet Occupations, have a paradoxical place in the nation's heritage. They were formed with local recruits in 1915 to defend central Latvia from German troops, often bearing the brunt of the heaviest fighting. No one fights harder than the farmer defending his own field, after all. They were military heroes of Latvia, but eventually they became disillusioned with their status as cannon-fodder and turned against the Russian Tsar.
The joined the Bolsheviks, playing a key role in Lenin's seizure of power in November 1917. A year later they were given the order to execute the Tsar and his family - a delicate task not suitable for native Russians. Most importantly, they prevented a June 1918 coup that would have surely ended Lenin's reign.
The Latvian Riflemen were instrumental in setting up a regime that would eventually attempt to destroy their homeland's culture. Not surprisingly, today their grandiose Soviet-made statue sits in the middle of a barren bus stop. Still, they disbanded in a positive light and their bravery as Latvian patriots is impossible to ignore.
Zeppelin Markets
Eating out is not a problem in Riga with a wide selection of restaurants, snack bars and coffee shops. Many of the newer ones are very impressive with some very original and entrepreneurial concepts which would travel well – all we tried were excellent value for money with good service. However the two meals I enjoyed most were the cheapest, both left me with change from £2.00. On the first damp & misty morning in downtown Riga myself and a colleague got off a trolley bus by the Occupation Museum (do go and see it) and happened upon a traditional café specialising in pancakes, breakfast, savoury and sweet. Both of us enjoyed good coffee and filling pancakes for less than two pounds in the company of office workers and students who were similarly fuelling up on this cold and damp day. On our last day I found myself in the huge market complex on the edge of the Old Town known as the Zeppelin Market as 5 of the 7 market halls are former Zeppelin sheds transported from East Prussia in the 30’s. There I enjoyed a hearty traditional broth, a cutlet and vegetables and coffee and pastry for £1.70 but more than that in the midst of all the hustle and bustle I enjoyed a window onto ordinary Latvian life. Riga's Central Market has to be one of the biggest I have ever seen. It contains every form of food produced in the waters and fields of Latvia. It's a vibrant place seven days a week with people from all walks of life going about their daily business.
Orthodox Cathedral
Hitler and the Nazis may have lost the war, but they succeeded in wiping out the entire Jewish population of Rīga. Thousands of Jews, 25,000+ from Rīga alone, were murdered in the forest several kilometers outside of town. It was a simple matter for the Nazis because a local Latvian 'security' team willingly did most of the work. It's easy to overlook, but anti-Semitism was a virulent force far beyond the borders of Nazi Germany.
This pile of rubble was the Jewish synagogue. A few days after the Nazis arrived it was torched... packed tight with Rīga's first victims.
Riga Synagogue Ruins
Apart from this one stone plaque, you wouldn't know that this barren wooded park is actually the city's pre-WWII Jewish graveyard. The gravestones were removed and smashed to bits during the war.
Site of Jewish Cemetery
We did encounter some negatives which, whilst not discounting them, gave a frisson to the few days and added to the feeling that you were somewhere different. There is a major sex industry controlled by the Russian Mafioski in Riga. The local what’s on guides have a plastic encased supplement on “Riga at Night” which lists the often dubious “delights” on offer – as everywhere else, tourists should not leave their common sense at home. I wondered why the taxis in the old town where fully loaded Mercedes and BMW’s until I took one and realised they were only shop fronts – your taxi driver can provide everything and isn’t shy about telling you this. I got the distinct impression that if you wanted a Mig 21 it would be delivered to your hotel next morning – cash deal only! As in Russia and the former statelets, those two sides of the same coin, racism and xenophobia are not far below the surface. An Indian friend got abused outside a night club as a terrorist whilst inside the, otherwise impressive, nightclub a colleague got jostled and pushed because he looked “foreign.”
And whilst generalisations are dangerous the dichotomy between young Latvian men and women is both remarkable and highly visible. Latvian women have a well deserved reputation for beauty with an alluring mix of Slavic and Norse features. But more than that, they are serious and hard working grasping and appreciating the opportunities of freedom and education that the New Latvia affords them. The male 18 to 30 demographic gives a very different picture. They have an ex – military air about them, there is very obvious aggression and unattractive machismo on display and a very visible alcohol and drug problem. A small example, the night club had 6 security personnel on duty none of whom I would have picked an argument with and during the course of the night they unceremoniously frogmarched at least 10 drunken / stoned males who were causing problems and dumped them on the pavement outside.
These are as niggles set beside the energy, sense of purpose and historic and human interest to be found in Riga which makes it such a worthwhile travel destination. The persistence of the ideals of personal freedom and free association cemented by trade of the Hanseatic League can be seen in the way the cities of the newly free Baltic countries have readopted their Hanseatic titles after gaining their freedom.
My abiding feeling coming back from Riga is how important freedom is to people who have been deprived of it and how much in the West we take it for granted, not something they will ever do in Riga which is watched over by the symbol of Latvian nationhood “The Freedom Monument.”
Freedom Monument
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