Pessimistic Box
This building in the middle of Historical center of Riga irritate many people in Riga.
This black box is the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia.
Instead of removing it, government decide to expand it in the immediate future.
Temporary Riga photos are being published not in a regular manner due to blog author has moved to Vilnius.
This building in the middle of Historical center of Riga irritate many people in Riga.
This black box is the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia.
Instead of removing it, government decide to expand it in the immediate future.
People Reaction (7)
Another modern building. Give me the older ones every time. So, when they expand it, many will be upset!
Pat
Guelph Daily Photo, Pat's Photo-a-Day
It looks like the Huarte Center in Bilbao to me.
It looks good to me. Modernist references. Not bad. It's a reminder of its time. It can't be all charming little townhouses and palaces as it would be boring. This brings something distinct, and a chance for a contrast.
as far as i know this "expanding" actually means renewal of the area...
i think they are going to try to make the building fit in
Yes,it would be nicer to have nice houses in the old style over there. :)
But now it's also a remembrance of the Sowjet/Russian occupation of Latvia, Germans bombed the houses over there, Russians blew up everything that was left after the war. Let's hope on the many other empty places in Riga there will be more cheerfull buildings. :)
Yes, the "black box" building irritates many, especially those old nostalgic Soviets and young Russian neo-Soviets and Russian chauvinists, who deny the very existence of the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 by the agreement between Nazi Reich and the USSR (the same agreement which led to Nazi and later Soviet attack on Poland in 1939 and the beginning of WWII) and re-occupation 4 years later at the end of WWII.
Others say that, yes, it is ugly, but that is exactly why it serves its purpose well - to remind about the ugly events before during and after the WWI and Nazi and Soviet crimes - about how they effectively ruined the beautiful country of Latvia.
You can think of it as of Latvian Holocaust museum (dedicated to the crimes of two totalitarian regimes against all the people who lived in Republic of Latvia before WWII).
P.S. The "black box" itself was built in Soviet times and originally housed the Museum of Revolution, a Soviet propaganda outlet prising Bolshevik coup of 1917 and all that followed. The square around it looked different then, though.
There is a similar case of "black banner" modern building in front of the surviving neobaroque gate of kino Riga, completely hidden from Elizabetes Iela, 61.
Saved from wars and soviet "renovations", Kino Riga survives rear such a criminal architecture.
http://www.1188.lv/karte360/#ux=56.95385643091946&uy=24.11844491958618&p=1&pp=10&b=indoor&t=lbs&what=&where=