Photo exhibition marks 35 years since Latvia restored independence

A photo exhibition titled “Fateful August” has opened outside the Occupation Museum in Riga to mark 35 years since Latvia restored its de facto independence, LSM reported.

The free exhibition was created by the Occupation Museum in cooperation with the Latvian National History Museum and is open to the public outdoors next to the museum.

The photographs document events on August 21, 1991, when Soviet security forces blocked Latvia’s Supreme Council and Dome Square in Riga, as well as other significant events that took place that month.

“This year marks the 35th anniversary since Latvia was internationally recognised. I think that is very important. Unfortunately, too little attention is paid in our country to August 21 as a special day of celebration,” said Valda Liepiņa, chairwoman of the board of the Latvian Occupation Museum Association.

She said the exhibition also focuses on the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact anniversary on August 23, the Baltic Way, and the August 1991 coup, which began on August 19. For three days, the outside world and people in Latvia were largely left uncertain about what was happening, she said.

On August 21, 1991, Latvia’s Supreme Council adopted a constitutional law restoring the country’s de facto independence. Other countries recognised the restoration of Latvia’s independence with reference to that law.