Monument to the Soldiers of the Soviet Army in Riga

Text and pictures by Mark R. Hatlie

These pictures were taken on 31 August and 1 September, 2007, in "Victory Park" in Riga. Since this is one of my favorite memorials, I took lots of pictures on two days which offered different weather and lighting conditions.

This memorial was built in 1985. It is officially called "Piemineklis Padomju Armijas karaviriem - Padomju Latvijas un Rigas atbrivotajiem no vacu fasistiskajiem iebrucejiem": Memorial/Monument to the soldiers of the Soviet Army - the liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German fascist invaders. It was designed by L. Bukovsky, A. Gulbis, A. Bugaev, E. Balins, E. Vecumnieks and V. Zilgalvis.

The memorial is 79 meters high and can be seen from down town, across the river. It dominates the Pardaugava side of the river. The locals sometimes refer to it as "Moscows Finger." (Maskavas pirksts)

	This is the view approaching the memorial from down town.
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	This is the view from once actually in the park in front of the memorial. This surface is now in better condition than it was 10 years ago. It was used for ceremonies during the final years of the Soviet Union.
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	The memorial is still revered by part of the population. It is also still used as a gathering place on important dates associated with the Great Patriotic War, primarily 22 June, the day of the German invasion and and 9 May, the day of the Soviet victory.
	The cement numbers show the dates of the Nazi-Soviet war,1941-1945. Riga was "liberated" from the Germans in 1944. Nonetheless, this memorial's dates cover the entire conflict.
	The next several photos show the element on the left,a statue of "mother homeland" ("dzimtene mate").
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	This is a view from up on top of the surface where the female figure is standing. It shows that the monument has not been well maintained in all aspects. Parts of this section look like they might have held something before, letters or signs of some kind.
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	Here, along the front, to the side of the date 1941-1945, the metal letters have been removed. The outlines of the letters are still visible, however. It reads in Latvian and then in Russian: "For the liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga".
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	This shows the left side of the memorial.
	These three soldiers are called "Soldier liberators" (Karaviri atbrivotaji).
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	The column in the middle is 79 meters high.
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	There are still signs of the repair work done near the base of the column. In 1997 there was an attempt to blow up the memorial that took large chunks out of it.
	The column is made up of five stars shooting into the sky - one star for each year of the war.
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	A large pond is wrapped around the back of the memorial.
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