Baltic States – CIS, EU – Baltic States, History, Latvia, Legislation, Real Estate

International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Friday, 19.04.2024, 21:00

Latvian government urged to decide fate of former KGB building

BC, Riga, 21.10.2014.Print version
The "Riga 2014" Foundation is urging the government to make a decision on the future of the Corner House or the former KGB building at 61 Brivibas Street in Riga – an architectural edifice that "stood empty and deserted in the very center of Riga for more than six years," as "Riga 2014" public relations officer Martins Dregeris told LETA.

Revamped as a museum, Corner House opened to the public last spring, and its regular guided tours and special exhibits and events have earned tremendous popularity, hence the movement at hand to keep it open.

 

"Since the change of political systems, the vision of how the building could be used in the future was never discussed. "Riga 2014" saw the opportunity to fill the building with new content as part of Riga's program for the European Capital of Culture year in order to, on the one hand, emphasize the heinous activities in the building by the KGB and, on the other hand, prompt people to think about the relationship between the powers that be, fate, the people, culture" said Gints Grube, one of the curators of the "Riga 2014" program. "The Corner House reopened for several months this past spring, but the question of what function it should perform in the future, remains open. It is a matter that should be resolved at the national level," he added.

 

Almost 1,200 Corner House visitors have signed a petition to the government, asking that the Corner House be preserved as a cultural and historic monument paying homage to those, who, during the Soviet period, suffered within its walls as inmates, persons brought in for interrogation and/or torture, or execution. 739 have signed the petition at the www.manabalss.lv portal.

 

In the near future, the Cabinet of Ministers is to review the Culture Ministry's report on the Corner House and preservation of the building and the exhibits therein, according to which the exhibition "Corner House. Case No. 1914/2014" on the ground and lower ground floors of the building, organized by the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, should continue. This would be particularly important in 2015 when Latvia will be the presiding country at the Council of the European Union, and the Corner House would offer insight into Latvia's modern history.

 

According to Dregeris, a large number of people have visited the Corner House since opening, generating major publicity in Latvia and abroad.

 

In addition, a number of foreign dignitaries have visited the Corner House: Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius, Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas, and Swedish Crown Princess Victoria.






Search site