Riga - European Capital of Culture 2014 candidate

My name is Milda Kristīne, née Krastiņa. I met AlfrēdsAleksandrs Vinters while living in Mīlgrāvis. We were married in St.Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church at Christmas, in 1927. I alreadyknew that Alfrēds harboured undiscovered talents and that he wouldn’tjust remain in the memories of our neighbours as a sawmill worker. Heplayed the violin and the zither. Alfrēds had learned to play these inhis childhood as part of his father’s orchestra. He played for his ownpleasure and for that of others. This is how he became a songwriter,beloved throughout the nation. When Alfrēds was already becomingfamous, we made the acquaintance of the sculptor Kārlis Zāle ata garden party. I remember, it was a very hot summer, Alfrēds wasplaying, but Zāle approached me, and that is what changed my life.I became, as they now say, a legend. In 1935, Kārlis Zāle finishedbuilding the Freedom Monument, based on his Shine Like a Star!design. People started talking of the resemblance between me andthe lady on the top of the monument. I don’t know why, but peoplealso started calling her by my name – Milda.At the very beginning, so that I could stand and guard, thepeople of Latvia donated funds by way of gratitude to those whofought in the Latvian War of Independence of 1918-1920. I wouldlike to see such a great instance of unity in this century as well.Today, thousands of people take photos of me daily – Germans,Japanese, Russians, English, Latvians and many others. Theystop and watch the changing of the guard of honour. I would liketo lift them all up – the guards, the tourists, the Latvians – to thevery top, so that they, too, might see the view that opens up everyday from my vantage point, 42 metres up. The places whereRiga’s buildings begin, the sea disappearing into the horizon, theunusual sky over Riga – they are all visible from here.I am fondly called Milda. It is a good viewpoint,one from which I can see the whole city, exactlyas if I was a bird in flight. I am like a city sentinel. Itis surprising that I have survived through all thosewars and times of confusion. Maybe it was luckthat my fate was decided by the Riga-born andParis-schooled student of Kārlis Zāle – the famousUSSR sculptress Vera Mukhina, whose Workerand Kolkhoz Woman is known all over the world.The only chains they decided to guard me withthen, so that freedom wouldn’t ‘escape’ on its ownaccord, were trolleybuses and their electrical wires,innovations of the time.Every day, I watch Riga changing – growing insize from one day to the next. People, cars, trams,houses, shacks, towers, buzzing, rushing, silence,noise, streets and gates that connect the city’s ArtNouveau pearls to thousands of wooden houseson both sides of the Daugava River, the roofs andturrets of Old Riga, with its place in the UNESCOWorld Heritage List. I see ever newer buildings,I see cranes rising above the future library, andships coming into the port of Riga.