In regards to removal of monuments, society is allowed to be emotional and it should be, said Dailes Theatre director Juris Žagars in an interview to TV3 programme 900 Seconds.
He supports the position in favour of removal of monuments to historically controversial culture workers from public places if the majority is against having them. Žagars does believe monuments should not be destroyed or melted down, rather moved to some other place.
«Of course, it would have been better had we done this in 1993 or 1995, when the Soviet army left Latvia. But we didn’t, because Russia was not an enemy at the time. Now Russia is the enemy,» said Dailes Theatre’s director.
In regards to the monument to writer Andrejs Upītis, Žagars he sees him as a representative of the Soviet power, adding he does not think this monument should stand next to the Riga Congress hall, which is where it stands now.
Žagars says Latvia should create a sculptures park to move such monuments to, collecting historical evidence. «I know that
in Cēsīs we put Lenin in a coffin of sorts, and everyone is happy.
People come to take photos,» added the artist.
As previously reported, following the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the topic of Soviet-related monuments has become a hot potato in Latvia, specifically the topic of removal of monuments that remind people of the Soviet heritage.
Last week Riga City Council’s Monuments Council approved the idea for the removal or dismantling of six monuments believed to be glorifying the Soviet union or people that supported it.
The monuments in question include the monument to writer Andrejs Upītis, the monument to writer Anna Sakse, the monument to Russian poet Aleksandr Pushkin.
The Monuments Council also supported the proposal to dismantle the monument to Riga-born scientist «three-time hero of socialist work in USSR» Mstislav Keldysh, which is located opposite to the University of Latvia, as well as the memorial plaque to historian Jānis Zutis located on Basteja Boulevard 12.
Removal of the aforementioned monuments was proposed by the Public Memory Centre.
Also read: Latvian Russians Union to protest against removal of Pushkin’s monument in Riga