Riga: Uniquely Latvian

My feet were swollen. I was in pain. I got off the bus from Vilnius and headed straight to the accomodation for some rest. Once I began to unpack, I realized that I forgot my phone charger and power bank on the bus. I though I lost them forever, like many other things in my life.

When I was about to leave Riga, out of curiosity, I went to the bus company's office inside the bus station and told the lady working there about my story. She asked my name, and then turned around to the shelf behind her. When she turned back, I recognized the things that were on her hands: a USB phone charger and a power bank, in the same condition as the last time I saw them.

Oh wow........

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Skyline of old town Riga

Throughout history, Latvia had been an integral part of several important European powers: The Polish - Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union. Since 1990, the nation gained its independence from the U.S.S.R and had been able to rule in accordance with the will of the Latvian people without much of outside influence from big powers nearby the very first time in thousands of years. Today, Latvia is a member of both the European Union and NATO. As a result, people frequently hear the name Latvia in the news as the nation has been a key geopolitical entity which sits on the front-line of the feud between Russia and the West.

Skyline of Riga

Riga, Latvia's capital and the largest city in the Baltic states, has been the center of Latvian culture since the 13th century and today is home to one third of Latvia's total population.  The city itself in many ways represents the best of Latvia and is a manifestation of the overall Latvian society. How so? Here are the reasons:

1. Riga has the only UNESCO world heritage site that is Latvia's and Latvia's alone.

House of Blackheads, Riga's most well known building

Riga's old town, known as Vecrīga, is home to a large number of Baltic style and Art Nouveau architectures. The buildings of Riga reflect the historic Germanic and Russian influences. The most well -known landmark of Riga, House of the Blackheads, is arguably the best piece of work that represents the city's Germanic architectures. Originally built as a guild for unmarried merchants, the building experienced damage during World War Two and was total demolished during the Soviet era. After Latvia's independence, the iconic building was able to be rebuilt with helps and encouragement from the European Union. The reconstruction has certainly made Riga as the shining star of the Baltic coast even brighter.

Throughout Riga, it's not difficult to find buildings resembling those in other historic European cities like Krakow - the long time capital of the Polish - Commonwealth and Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. Like its Nordic neighbors, Latvians traditionally adhere to Protestantism, rather than Roman Catholicism like its Polish and Lithuanian neighbors.  The two most dominant buildings in Riga's skyline, St. Peter's Cathedral and the Dome Cathedral, are both Lutheran churches dated back to as far as the 17th century. 

Due to the fact that Latvia for most part of the modern history being a part of Russia, Riga is also home to the largest Russian Orthodox church in the Baltic States. Through visiting these landmarks of the city,  visitors would have a better idea of Latvia's long, complicated history with the great powers around it.

At the same, Riga is also home to a large number of Art Nouveau style architectures. The neighborhood northeast of the city core area is known as the "Art Nouveau" district. Riga was one of the fastest growing cities both in terms of economy and population in the early 20th century. As a result, new buildings were constructed in order to accommodate the new middle class population in the city.  During the same period, Riga and Latvia were under the control of the Russian Empire. Instead of building Russian style architectures, city planners of Riga chose the more trendy Art Nouveau style that was more of a Paris thing rather than a Saint Petersburg thing. Riga's choice of Art Nouveau style architectures already reflected Latvian people's will for something different and something "western". This mentality remained within the people of Latvia all the way until 1990, when the Baltic nation was granted true independence by the U.S.S.R. 

2. Riga's Demographics itself  reflects the nation's history.

The Freedom Monument in Riga. Built in 1935 for honoring Latvia's independence from Russia, the monument survived the Soviet era and continues to celebrate Latvia's independence till this day

Meanwhile, Riga's tram system resembles like the ones in former Soviet cities like Saint Petersburg

In the census of 2016, around 60% of population in Latvia are ethnic Latvians, whereas ethnic Russians made up roughly 26% of the total population. In Riga, the ethnic Latvians made up 44% of the population, and the ethnic Russians 37%. The reason why Riga, and Latvia in general contained a large Russian population was its history. As mentioned before, for nearly 300 years the nation of Latvia was under the control of Russia.  After the collapse of the U.S.S.R, the ethnic Russians began to migrate out of the country (some went to Russia, many others moved to a third country), as many ethnic Russians were unable to obtain the citizenship of Latvia according to the new Latvian law. Even today, 11.2% of Latvia's total population are what the official document refers to as "non-citizen Latvians"- stateless people with the rights residing in Latvia who are neither Latvian citizens, nor are they citizens of another country. These non-citizens, who are mostly ethnic Russians and regarded legally as "the citizens of the former U.S.S.R", do not have the rights such as seeking political office or obtaining Latvian passports. 

A Stalinist skyscraper in Riga

Many ethnic Russians believe that Latvia's naturalization law - the only method for these non-citizens to legitimately become Latvian citizens in many ways is unfair to them. In order to be naturalized, non-citizens must be able to speak Latvian and pass the offcial knowledge test - which the candidates must acknowledge that Latvia was illegally occupied by the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1990. This sparked disagreements and protests of the non-citizens, in which all of them are still considered "citizens of former U.S.S.R" by the Latvian government and hinted that the non-citizens were illegal occupier of Latvia under the Soviet regime.  

The Freedom Monument

The Riflemen Monument, built in the Socialist Realist Style during the Soviet era

In the 2009 municipal election of Riga, Nils Ušakovs, an ethnic Russian born in Latvia who became a citizen of Latvia through the naturalization process 10 years earlier in 1999, was elected the first ethnic Russian mayor of Riga since the Soviet era. Ušakovs's high approval rating among Rigans showed that Riga, as well as Latvia as whole, was moving towards a new era - a new era which the future of the country would be led by democratically elected leaders based on their  abilities, rather than by their ethnic and social backgrounds. 

Why Riga matters?

Sitting on the front-line of the EU-Russia geopolitical game, Riga and Latvia will continue to play a role in the EU-Russia feud. That means Latvia's complex history  will likely continue to be written in the same fashion as well. At the same time, while Latvia today has the choice of not repeating missteps of the past, the nation could be an experiment field for finding a possible resolution to the peaceful co-existence between Europe and Russia - because the people of Latvia already have the knowledge and experience in resolving conflicts between ethnic Latvians and ethnic Russians (although not every single case was successful). The election of
Nils Ušakovs as the mayor of Riga is a very important milestone as it shows that ethnic Latvians and Russians can definitely find common grounds in deciding the future of Riga as well as their will of leaving historical conflicts and identity politics behind. While there is no doubt that Riga is the best city to showcase Latvia and the Latvian culture, changes that will affect the future of Latvia will also be made right there.