Maskachka Beginning
One of the most criminal and poorest neighborhoods in Riga is Maskachka.
Maskachka is shortening from Maskavas Forštate (Moscow suburb). It's named like this because of road connecting Riga to Moscow.
Today it is mostly undeveloped area with prewar buildings and narrow cobblestone-covered streets.
Junkies, bums and poor people make here the highest crime rate in Riga.
Labels: abandoned, buildings, houses, maskachka, poverty, ruins
People Reaction (4)
Looks frightening but beautiful area in the same time! Love your photos!
What really makes people laugh is the words somebody has painted on the wall (seen on left): "Property of Riga Town Council". Good satire (unless it was the Council itself and they did actually mean it). :)
I will point out, that the name possibly should have come also from the fact, that during Russian Empire times and later in Latvian Republic before WWII, Russian merchants and craftsmen used to live or stay in inns there and such a compact Russian settlement was quite a landmark then.
To understand the context it should be remembered that before WWII there were only few percent of population of Russian origin and only after Soviet occupation the huge influx of Soviet immigrants (illegal from the point of view of international law which forbids settling of occupied territories by the occupier) took the number of Russian speakers to the level we see now.
Ha! I used to drive by these buildings every day going to work! This picture was taken before someone made "art" out of it by adding a whole bunch of ventilation tubes all over the place as well as a few dabs of paint here and there!!