Uzvaras Piemineklis
Uzvaras Piemineklis (Victory Monument) is a large military monument in Pardaugava Victory Park.
The monument was erected in the spring of 1985 to commemorate the victory over the fascism during the 2nd World War.
The central Obelisk symbolizing salute volley, statue on the left is the statue of the Mother Motherland, and on the right are soldiers representing different types of forces.
Victory Monument is always in the middle of enmity between Russian and Latvian communities.
Obelisk was blown up several times during the last 15 years.
Latvian patriots say that monument is symbolizing Soviet Occupation, but not the Victory.
See also photos of events happening annualy here:
2008 - Victory day ladies
2009 - Victory day flowers
Labels: history, monuments, pardaugava, parks, russian, soviet, statues, wars
People Reaction (4)
What an interesting post to read today!
Pat
Guelph Daily Photo, My Photos.
wonderful perspective!
Right.
Should be noted, that "Mother Motherland" ("Rodina - Mat' " in Russian) is Soviet propaganda cliché. And it does not stand for Latvia, "Mother Motherland" is supposed to mean USSR - the Soviet Union, while it also might mean Russia, because those two were often interchangeable in Soviet mindset, despite the declared so called "internationalism" of the Soviet Union.
Also, I might mention, that people use to call it "The Phallus" or "The Pardaugava phallus" (Pardaugava is the Daugava river left bank part of Riga), due to the obvious similarity of the monument to male reproductive organ.
People also say, that the female figure with her hands in the air (on the left) is screaming in horror when she sees Red army soldiers with machine guns running to her.
Yes, to Latvians it is not a sign of victory ("The Great Victory" - as Russians say), but the sign of reconquest of Latvia by Bolshevik troops and the next 50 years of totalitarian regime that followed. Replacing one murderous oppressive regime by another one, that's all.
Effectively, it is a monument found in Republic of Latvia, which is glorifying those who destroyed the Republic of Latvia. Quite unusual combination, I must say...
Many people would like to see the monument go, but Russia is very strongly opposing any such idea and even wants to extend it (it has something to do with international agreements between Latvia and Russia). To them it probably is something like the animal scent marks - marking territory so that everyone knows it "belongs to them". So possibly it will be around for a while.
P.S. Few will know, but the Victory Park was called so already before WWII, before Soviet occupation, and the name has nothing to do with Bolshevik victory, they just used it for their propaganda purposes.
P.P.S.
People (older generation) used to call this place The Square of Gallows, because after Soviets took Riga they publicly executed by hanging several Nazi officers there, and people, including school children, were forced by the Soviet soldiers to come and watch it, which was somewhat unusual experience to them.
It's such a haunting place to visit. When you go there, you imagine huge, cheering crowds from an old propaganda film to match the grand monument. But it's so quiet and empty! I've only visited it once, but when I did, I found human feces (probably left by some homeless person) at the base of the obelisk (probably was the best shelter around for 'doing your duty'). Great picture, though.