Riga - European Capital of Culture 2014 candidate
Riga - European Capital of Culture 2014 candidate
Riga - European Capital of Culture 2014 candidate
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From above, everything can be seen better. There are places andpeople that I wish to see changing. Different periods have left theirlegacies in all the neighbourhoods <strong>of</strong> <strong>Riga</strong> – the shapes <strong>of</strong> factories,where manufacturing used to take place for both the Russian and forthe German occupying powers. Now they stand abandoned. I wantto wake up those living in ‘sleeper neighbourhoods‘ and who haveforgotten to greet one another. I want to landscape the banks <strong>of</strong> theDaugava River, where people go and meet each other. I want to see<strong>Riga</strong> grow, not just spread out ever wider.<strong>Riga</strong> has always been a free city in its own way; it hasalways wanted a relationship with everyone. It has neverwanted to stand apart. Maybe that is why I am built <strong>of</strong>Finnish granite and Italian travertine, while my figure hasbeen cast in bronze by Swedish craftsmen. Differentpeople have played a part in creating my colourful<strong>Riga</strong> over the centuries – Livs, Latvians, Germans,Russians, Jews, Swedes, Estonians, Lithuanians, Poles,Belarusians, Ukrainians... they have all lived here together.Historians speak <strong>of</strong> a Liv settlement that was here,under my feet, a thousand years ago.I watch the bridges over the Daugava,connecting both parts <strong>of</strong> the city. I see thatfor some, the Second World War endedonly yesterday, and it is still not easy toagree on what happened on May 8 th or 9 th ,1945 in Europe, and what emotions shouldbe felt when remembering the decadesthat followed these dates in all <strong>of</strong> EasternEurope. I hope that an understanding ispossible for <strong>Riga</strong>.